The pursuit of love

羅晨暉

【Abstract】Holden made a crazy adventure of seeking love in New York. The author Salinger successfully created a spiritual world in which readers can emerge in beauty of silence， loneliness and restlessness. The origin of the values presented in the story lies in its narration style， which can be regarded as the unique reflection of the main character Holden Caulfield.

【Key words】love； children； seek crazy

The idea of love is a major theme that arises in many of J D Salinger's characters. Love is used to protect and to care for people who need protecting and caring. In the novel， love is repeatedly used by the character， Holden Caulfield， who struggles desperately to find a certain somebody or anyone to allocate his love to， but finally he realizes this love is not necessarily expressed through saving “the children in the rye” from the time of trial， but actually caring for them and being their friends， during the time of trial. The constant need for love is overwhelming， and the tragedy of this great world is the fact that some people do not find the proper love that they deserve. Holden Caulfield is a perfect example of the striving people to acquire a love sought desperately all his life. According to this quote， “He is simply expressing an innocence incapable of genuine hatred Holden does not suffer from the inability to love， but does despair of finding a place to bestow his love”（Heiserman and Miller 30）， Holden Caulfield has the need for allocating his cornucopia of love for people.

1. love is pure

When the little children are playing in the rye-field on the cliff top， Holden wants to be the one who catches them before they fall off the cliff. He is not driven toward honor or courage. He is not driven toward the love of woman. Holden is driven toward love of his fellowman... （Heiserman and Miller 25）.In other words， he is not a tragic hero， but rather a misfortuned hero who struggles to find a person to give his love to. There is nothing tragic about his life.

Holden also seeks circularity in his life. He revels in the virtues of softness of the edges， a roundness that can't hurt anyone. He finds a comfort in the circular motions of the carousel. This illustrates the pure innocence of children， and the gold rings portray a sort of round goal that children seek and reach for.

Holden seeks children， free of impurities. He can not stand this falling from children. Holden reasons， there is no fulfillment in the adult world， since all it can offer man is frustration or corruption， the only worthwhile task to which he can devote himself is that of the protector who stops children before they enter the world of destruction and phoniness and keeps them in a state of innocence.

2. love is hard

He realizes that innocence is a very hard part of ones soul to save. This eventually leads him to his final realizations. Holden has a few aspects and thoughts that help him to appease him slightly of the thirst for love. “In childhood he had what he is now seeking- non-phoniness， truth， innocence. He can find it now only in Phoebe and in his dead brother Allie's baseball mitt， in a red hunting cap and the tender little nuns”（Heiserman and Miller 26）. Phoebe is a hope that Holden holds in his heart. Her childish innocence gives him a true and pure outlook that lets him feel secure in her presence.

What prompts Holdens quest is his desire for unity， a desire that is expressed in the comfort and safety which he always felt in the Museum of Natural History. That was a ideal situation which can keep his loving forever. But such a reassuringly ordered universe is an impossible dream is emphasized by the fact that， when Holden visits the Museum near the conclusion of his New York odyssey， he sees the words “‘Fuck you...written with a red crayon or something， right under the glass part of the wall， under the stones” （264）. Holden wishes to erase the interminable “Fuck you” on all the alley walls and school corridors and sidewalks in the world.

3. love is crazy

Holdens reiteration of the word “crazy” reminds us that his ambition is also “absurd，” for his Christ-like intention （suffering the little children to come unto him） is opposed to the reality in which children like his own sister， Phoebe， are carted of to the Lister Foundation to see movies on euthanasia and move along grimy school corridors which flaunt the words “Fuck you！” at them. While Holden has a vision of his role in the world， he is unable either to live the absurdity he has outlined or to develop an absurd faith.

To act with morality and love in a universe in which God is dead （or， at least， in which historical preconceptions of God frequently seem invalid） is perhaps the most acute problem of our age. The progression from early stories in which the misfit hero can find genuine love only in children to the later stories in which mysticism is rejected in favor of an absurd love stance is a progression whose scope is perhaps not fully measured in the stories which Salinger has written， but more specifically in the personal struggle he has undergone in arriving at this philosophical position.

References：

[1]Miller，Edward Haviland.“In Memoriam：Allie Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.” Mosaic 15：1（1982）：129-40.

[2]Ohmann，Carol and Richard.“Reviewers，Critics，and The Catcher in the Rye.” Critical Inquiry 3（1976）：15-37.