| Title: | Major Recurrent Themes in J. D. Salinger’s Fiction: Archetypal Motifs and Patterns |
| Author: | Georgiana Mirela Mîndreci |
| Publication: | Language and Literature – European Landmarks of Identity, 4 (2), p. 95-103 |
| p-ISSN: | 1843-1577 |
| Publisher: | Universitatea din Pitești |
| Place: | Pitești |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Abstract: | J. D. Salinger’s fiction abounds in certain attitudes, patterns, and motifs that repeat themselves, under different forms and names, and that evolve from his early short stories to his last published literary creations. Many critics have tried to identify and explain these patterns to better understand the meaning of Salinger’s friction. Some of the major themes identified in Salinger’s fiction are related to faith, conformity vs. society, love of various kinds, the repressed and perverted sex instinct, the misfit hero, “phony” and “nice” worlds, crucial moments of revelation or epiphanies, alienation and vulnerability, escapism, quest for a moral ideal, religion and Western philosophy, symbolism of names, childhood and adulthood, relationships, specific use of language, and so on. Salinger’s protagonists are usually intelligent and sensitive ones. Some of them are also very aware teenagers, or adults who seek their own identity in relation to an external world with which they find themselves more or less in conflict. Alienation or disenchantment with the so-called adult world is one of the most frequently met themes in Salinger’s writings. This theme is often emphasized by rather “common” characters (parents, teachers, marriage partners, etc.) who interrelate with the troubled protagonist. Sometimes Salinger’s characters search for a definition of the “adult” world or this definition is simply offered in Salinger’s writings. This adult world may be viewed as commercialized, materialistic, phony, ugly, grotesque, and all these reasons make the sensitive character retreat from it. This retreat can be real or symbolical and Salinger’s most used tools for rendering this escapism are madness, suicide, or introversion and fantasy. Salinger is also very concerned with the question of innocence and experience in human lives. But, more important than this concern is that of how the life experience, which is unavoidable, can best be realized in true spiritual growth. Sometimes true “love” of humanity seems to be the solution offered. Salinger's style and writing technique are unique and they include a rather inspired use of detail, slang characteristic to the 20th-century, vocabulary specific to teenagers, and colloquialisms. All these major aspects of Salinger’s fiction represent the focus of this article. |
| Key words: | themes, symbolism, archetypes |
| Language: | English |
| Links: |  pdf  html |
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