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to go with him, he hesitated and went back home to protect her from the ugly world. 

The novel not only is a vivid and detailed depiction of the status of a middle-class child of boredom, loneliness and cynical spiritual world, but also criticizes the hypocrisy of the adult community and affectation. Holden is a typical young person of complex and contradictory personality. He has the pursuit of a better life and the lofty ideals of childlike innocence. Through Holden’s experiences in New York City, the novel reveals the conflicts between Holden and the adult world. 

This thesis intends to analyze the conflicts in The Catcher in the Rye from three main aspects—the conflicts within Holden himself, the conflicts with the adult world, the conflicts with the reality of that time.

2. Demonstration
2. 1Conflicts within Holden himself
2. 1. 1 Id vs. superego

In The Catcher in the Rye, with the development of Holden’s adventure, Holden becomes more and more aware of the phoniness and indifference among the common people in the society. The problems that Holden faces are mainly psychological ones. So the psychoanalysis aided by Sigmund Freudian psychological theory may be helpful in the analysis of Holden’s behavior.

According to Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality, the id is the personality component made up of unconscious urges, needs, and desires. The id is mainly composed of sexual desire and aggression. There is no exception that Holden’s id is actually his sexual desire. “When Holden was in Edmont Hotel, he saw one gray-haired guy who put on women’s clothes and walk the way a woman does, smoking in a cigarette and looking at himself in the mirror” (Salinger 282). In addition, he sees a man and woman squirting water out of their mouth at each other in hysterics. Although the scene impresses Holden as perverted at first, it somewhat fascinates him. Holden’s id is revealed when he accepts without hesitation the Ponce Maurice’s proposition to send a girl to him. His id is driving him nowhere as long as there is an opportunity to relieve it. On the other hand, he is controlled by the superego. He is nervous for the release of sexual desire and he refuses to have a sexual relationship with the prostitutes at last. 

Sigmund Freud’s theory implies that the superego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and cultural regulations. The superego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality. The superego functions as the justice system inside and the judge to tell right from wrong. In the novel, Holden succeeds in resisting the temptation to have a sexual relationship with the prostitutes. In his unconscious superego, sex is brutal, inhuman and immoral. So Holden turns to his former girlfriend Sally Hayes, and wants to marry her. He thinks if he marries her, the sexual relationship between them will be moral and acceptable.

But Sally refuses and asks him to enter the mainstream of the society. Holden would not mind doing very crumby stuff and therefore sees himself as the biggest sex maniac. And yet, at the same time, Holden does not “like the idea” (Salinger 276) and thinks it stinks for Holden’s superego functions to fight against his id. Under the control of his superego, Holden argues that one should not horse around with a girl if he does not like her at本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。