Literary Theory and Catcher

Please respond to the following five problems as best as you can; thereafter respond to a post by one of your classmates and respond to my follow up question if I leave you one. This week you will briefly study Literary Theory (Chapter 6 of WEAL) and its various schools of thought. This study will provide you with very specific types of lenses through which you may view literature. Each school of thought will require you to approach a story and/or its parts in a different way. For this week I will apply the Psychoanalytic and Cultural schools of critical theory to the following discussion questions; you will find that the questions are very dense and will require a great deal of analytical thought:

3. Question that a Psychoanalytic critic would ask: Keeping in mind that the unconscious mind consists of repressed wounds memories fears unresolved conflicts and guilty desires how do the operations of repression either structure or inform The Catcher in the Rye? That is what unconscious motives are operating in Holden; what core issues are thereby illustrated through his actions; and how do these core issues structure or inform the piece of literature? In short what is Holden psychologically carrying with him and how does it shed light upon or govern the structure and direction of the story?

4. Question that a Cultural critic would ask: Taken as a part of a asthick description” of American culture during the postwar period what does Catcheradd to our understanding of human experience in that particular place and time including the ways in which individual identity shapes and is shaped by cultural institutions? Meaning what can we gather about American cultural norms sensibilities and practices of the postwar era after reading this text? How and in what ways do Holden the things he says the things he does the things that are described and happen around him or to him represent that era?

5. Theme of Catcher: Theme is central topic or idea explored in a text and it typically can be stated in one word. A work of literature can have multiple underlying themes. The theme is generally not stated explicitly in the text but instead is expressed through the characters’ actions words and thoughts. Pages 40-44 of your WEAL handbook examine a few different guidelines for identifying themes. Once you have read the descriptions respond to problems 1 3 and 6 under asThinking on Paper about Theme” (p. 44).

Requirements: all questions | .doc file

Why do you think Holden chooses to write Stradlater’s essay about Allies baseball mitt? Why does Holden fantasize about jumping out of a window? What do you think this fantasy suggests about him? Why do you think Holden chooses to write Stradlater’s essay about Allies baseball mitt?Why does Holden fantasize about jumping out of a window? What do you think this fantasy suggests about him?