麦田里的守望者英文读后感

麦田里的守望者英文读后感（共6篇）

篇1：麦田里的守望者英文读后感

My thoughts after reading The Catcher In The Rye

The Catcher In The Rye, which was written by Jerome David Salinger, tells a story about Holton’s two-day experiment and feelings after he dismissed by the middle school. He was hanging out in the New York City and seeing many ugly sides of the society. Although he was born in the middle class and had good condition to live, to study or to work, he expressed his dissatisfaction either. Holton was a complicated and contradictory youngster, but with a heart yearning for beautiful life and lofty ideal. Hating the headmaster, helping nuns raise money for survivors, caring his sister carefully, Holton was really a boy beyond a protagonist in the novel.

What on earth made Holton become such a kind of younger? In my opinion, there are three reasons. Firstly, every person lives in his specific social background. The book was written after the Second World War, the American society and economy was waiting to recover to the level before the Second World War. Secondly, different person has different living conditions. Holton was living in a middle class. He don’t worry about how to live. So he had much free time to think about the society. And his education in the school planted the social responsibility deeply in his heart. Thirdly, the American value makes contributions to it. It emphasizes a single person is more important than collectivity, which is much different from the values of us. Holton was also believed this value.

However, it is such a person that made me think. There is a sentence in the book, “a sign of an immature man is that he is willing to for a cause bravely dying, a mature man of marking is him would like to for a cause meanly alive”. In the ancient China, people were asked to sacrifice for his beliefs. But in the modern society, it becomes different. We are taught to protect our own life in any condition. But as a soldier, we should also believe in it. A soldier’s duty is protecting motherland and people. When facing enemies, what choose would you do? Die for defeating them or protect our own life? Of course we will choose the first one. However, I do think Holton was too extreme. Although the society is not so satisfying, we can use our own power to make

it change. Resisting is really not a wise choice. Maybe you will say that one person’s power is too weak to make any change, but we can influence people around us. By this way, your value can be spread far away. Then the whole world must change in the end. Just believe yourself.

In a word, I would like to be a catcher in the rye, not worrying and complaining like Holton. I will make my contributions to the world. Do something and influence the world in my own way. Distinguishing goodness with badness, I am sure that a right value has been set up in my mind.

篇2：麦田里的守望者英文读后感

Directions: Write an analytical essay in about 600 words on J.D.Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye.Your essay should include:(1)a relevant topic;(2)a discussion of one important theme you obtained from the novel;(3)how this theme is related to your own life experience;(4)a natural conclusion in the end of the essay.Because of Dreams

Generally, all of us may have our own particular dreams, to be a doctor, a teacher, a politician, a businessman or a … The life is just like a long and challengeable journey, and dreams will always direct us on the journey till we succeed.Because of dreams, we dare to face different difficulties and stress;because of dreams, we can stand utmost pains and sufferings;because of dreams, we never change our positive attitudes towards life.After reading J.D.Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, I fully perceive the importance, meaning and power of dreams.The Catcher in the Rye mainly tells a 16-year-old middle school boy-Holden’s life in New York City.At first, Holden is not good at study, and he is expelled from the school for many times.In the teachers and parents’ view, he may be a bad boy who is always anxious, traitorous, crazy, degenerate and demoralized, and lives an immoral and unexamined life.He is addicted in smoking, drinking and makes no progress.However, he has a quite good understanding of the fact of capitalist society, which is filled with hypocrisy, vanity, folly and philistinism.Holden has a simple and pure dream that he wants to be a catcher in the rye, and just this dream that prevents him from being degenerate, brings him some hopes and confidence, and finally changed his life.From this point, we can find the profound effects of dreams on one’s life.Without his pure dream, Holden may condescend to the end.It is his simple faith that enables him to survive in the capitalist society.Judging from my own experiences, there also many people live a life like Holden’s.They gradually forget their grand ideals, and waste time every day.Instead of study, they are addicted in playing computer games, smoking, drinking.Some always goes to cybercafés, ballrooms, pubs and some even breaks the law.Such kind of behavior hurts their parents

篇3：麦田里的守望者英文读后感

The Catcher in the Rye is an American initiation story,which is a genre borrowed from classical Bildungsroman.Aside from the characteristic of attaching great importance to the adolescents’growing-up problems,which inherited from classical Bildungsroman,the American initiation story developed its own features.Unlike the classical Bildungsroman,in which the protagonist achieves maturity by figuring out how to coorperate with the social world around him through self-meditation,“the American initiation story focuses more on adolescent’s contact with the social world where he find his identity and accomplishes the initiation process through epiphany”(Rui Yuping,2004),thus enables American initiation story to form its special written pattern known as temptation—roaming—puzzlement—epiphany.

The Catcher in the Rye portrays a sixteen-year-old boy Holden Caulfield,who dropped out of school and spent three days roaming around New York,searching for innocence and goodness,but finding only hypocrisy everywhere.Through a series of experience,he finally learned the truth of the adult world and adapted himself to the social reality,therefore,accomplished his initiation process from an adolescent to an adult.It is regarded as a typical American initiation story because the special written pattern is clearly embodied in the novel.This paper is going to match the details of the novel with the“temptation--roaming--puzzlement--epiphany”pattren to illustrate Holden’s initiation into adulthood.

1 Temptation,the Starter to Roam

In American initiation story,temptation is the starter of protagonist’s growth.It refers to the factor which lures the protagonist to begin his initiation journey.The example is not hard to find.In Moby-Dick,the Queequeg’s curiosity about Christian World urges him to on board a whaling boat,leaving his tribe for the voyage of discovering a new world;in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,the yearning for a life of freedom tempts Huckleberry to take his journey along the Mississippi River.And the roaming life of Holden,though not very long,is no exception.In The Catcher in the Rye,the thing lures Holden is the world outside Pencey,his school,for he finds that everything and everyone in it made him uncomfortable.He hates its phony way of attracting students,“They advertise in about a thousand magazines,always showing some hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence.Like as if all you ever did at Pencey was play polo all the time.I never even once saw a horse anywhere near the place”(Salinger,1964:2);he hates its hyprocratic headmaster,“Mr.Haas,that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life…if some boy had little old funny-looking parents…then old Haas would just shake hands with them and give them a phony smile and then he’d go talk,for maybe a half an hour,with somebody else’s parents”(Salinger,1964:2);he hates its superficial students who“talk about girls and liquor and sex all day”(Salinger,1964:9)and he hates its education system,“all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day”(Salinger,1964:71),therefore,to Holden,school is a place full of phony and philistinism.Since the world outside school cannot be worse than that,it becomes the temptation for Holden.In the hope of escaping from the terrible life at this terrible school and seeking comfort from the outside world,he chooses to leave Pencey and begin his roaming journey.

2 Roaming,the Journey to Grow

In American initiation story,leaving a place and begin a roaming journey is the evitable process of protagonist’s growth.It absorbs some elements from the picaresque model,“protagonists in initiation stories always appeared as stragglers in different types”(Salinger,1964:71).Most of the time,these protagonists are not satisfied with their plain life,they prefer to roam in the world which is unknown to them.But unlike the stragglers in traditional picaresque novels who roam for food,money and shelter,they roam in the hope of escaping from spiritual emptiness and seeking the meaning of life.Since the familiar things around them bears no help to their further understanding of the world,they have to enter a new environment to explore more of their lives.So,roaming plays an important part in protagonists’growth,because during the roaming journey,they will go through all kinds of stuff which can help shaping them mentally and physically in the initiation process.

In The Catcher in the Rye,Holden was so disappointed with the school,being aware that he cannot accept appropriate education at school,he choose to be educated by the social reality,therefore,the roaming journey began.Holden experienced a lot during his roaming in New York:told a big lie to his classmate’s mother on a train to New York;saw some adults’ridiculous behavior through the hotel window,“a gray-haired guy…took out all these women’s clothes,and put them on…walking up and down the room,taking these very small steps,the way a woman does…a man and a woman squirting water out of their mouths at each other…they were in hysterics the whole time,like it was the funniest thing that ever happened”(Sun Shengzhong,2002);tried to hook up with a prostitute but failed;talked with his respected teacher about the meaning of life,only got the answer that“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause,while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”(Salinger,1964:35);scared of his teacher’s homosextual action and escaped from his house because“he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head”(Salinger,1964:102)when he was sleeping.Besides those unpleasant thing he went through,Holden also had some delightful experiences:encountered with two kind nuns and enjoyed the talk with them because they never tried to find out his religious;donated ten bucks to them;had a pleasant talk with the kids in the park;sneaked back to home to see his sister Phoebe for the last time because he planned to go West.Holden’s roaming journey came to an end when Phoebe insisted to leave home with him.For his sister’s sake,he decided to stay,which signals his maturity.If there was no such roaming,Holden would not have the opportunity to see the dark side of the social reality as well as the bright side hidden in it.Though the roaming journey ends,the valuable experience it brings to him will accelerate his growth.

3 Puzzlement,the Inspiration for Meditating

During the roaming journey,puzzlement occurs when the protagonist is dealing with things and people he has never encountered before.However,the initiation process is accomplished by meditating and solving the puzzles.Like other adolescents going through puberty,Holden also confused about many things.The major puzzlement which affected his mind lie in three aspects:love&sex,problem of his family and problems of the society.

Firstly,the temptation of love and sex made him puzzle.On the one hand,he had a longing for setting up a relation with the girl he really loved,rather than a girl he wanted to have sex with.On the other hand,he was worried about not having enough experience and tried to prove he was not homosexual.This thought confused him.He had no one to share his puzzlement,so he tried to figure it out by doing a really ridiculous thing:he paid a prostitute just wanted to talk with her about“how she got to be a prostitute”(Salinger,1964:104)in stead of having sex with her.We can infer that it did not solve his puzzlement but made it even worse.

Secondly,the problems of his family also brought him puzzlement.Living in a family with father a lawyer and brother a writer,Holden was supposed to enjoy a happy life.But the fact is that though his family could prepare him a prosperous living environment,they could not provide him a helpful spiritual world.When Phoebe was told he was expelled from school again,all she said was,“Daddy’s going to kill you”(Salinger,1964:53).His father could get him into another school once he was kick out,but he could not help him finding the reason why he is resenting school.Holden’s brother was once one of his favourite writers who used to write moving stories,but“now he’s out in Hollywood,being a prostitute”(Salinger,1964:94),wasting his talent to write some lousy film script in change of money.This is the most puzzle thing that Holden did not understand.And his innocent sister Phoebe was always facing the danger of ruining by the hypocritical world,he wanted to prevent her,but finding him helpless when facing the mighty reality,therefore,a family with these problems burdened him with more puzzlement.

Thirdly,the problems existed in society is the major factor that resulted Holden’s puzzlement.Since the society is set upon values of the adults,adolescents usually have resentment of the social reality.Holden hated the society because he thought it was full of phony.In the theater,“there was a lady sitting next to me that cried all through the goddam picture…you’d have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell,but…she wasn’t…she had this little kid with her and had to go to the bathroom,but she wouldn’t take him”(Salinger,1964:1).Seeing all this,Holden satirized the lady“was about as kindhearted as a goddam wolf”(Salinger,1964:76).He noticed that social words such as“grand”,“nice to meet you”,“good luck”etc.are phony.Unfortunately,“if you want to stay alive,you have to say that stuff”(Salinger,1964:76).In Holden’s eye,he lived in a world of hypocrisy;the only clean and pure place is the children’s world.Meanwhile,he realized he was now inevitably going through a phase of growing,and eventually he would be a phony member of this phony society.He wanted to keep a pure heart,but clearly knew that he was not capable of.Again,he could not find a way to solve this paradox,therefore,led to his puzzlement.

4 Epiphany,the Trigger to Mature

In American initiation story,protagonist always reaches epiphany by his sudden witness of something and that thing triggers his meditation of the world around in a specific situation,thus changed his value of life.There are three epiphany of Holden which are crucial to his initiation into adulthood.

The first epiphany appeared in the 16th chapter.The song“if a body catch a body coming through the rye”(Salinger,1964:48)sang by a six-year-old boy did not triggered Holden’s meditation at first.It merely made him feel not so depressed any more.However,roamed in the society for a few days and having experienced the phony and dark side of the adult world,his epiphany was triggered by Phoebe’s question of what he would like to be in the future.This sudden question reminded him of the song.“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye…and nobody’s around—nobody big,I mean—except me.And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff…That’s all I’d do all day I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.I know it’s crazy,but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be”(Salinger,1964:63).Holden now understand that his puzzlement occurred because there was no“catcher in the rye”in his life who would stop him,thus he fall into the ugly world of adult.

The second epiphany stroke Holden on his way to the museum.Walking through the park reminded him of experience of visiting the museum in his early times.To him,“the best thing in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was…you could go there a hundred thousand times,and the Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish,the birds would still be on their way south,the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole…nobody’d be different”(Salinger,1964:94).His love for things that never change revealed that deep in his heart,he hope himself would stay at his innocent childhood forever,like the items exhibited in the museum,but he knew that it was impossible,“the only thing that would be different would be you.Not that you’d be so much older or anything.It wouldn’t be that,exactly.You’d just be different,that’s all”(Salinger,1964:66).This epiphany occurred to Holden that“certain things they should stay the way they are.You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.I know that’s impossible,but it’s too bad anyway”(Salinger,1964:66).So,he knew that one day he would enter the disgusting adult world,no matter how resentful he once was.

The last and most important epiphany is at the end of the story.When Holden decided to leave New York for the West,Phoebe insisted to go with him,but he would not let her.Neither of them could persuade the other to give up,therefore,they went to the zoo.When Phoebe was on the carrousel and kept trying to grab the gold ring like other kids,he was“sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse”,but he didn’t say anything or do anything,because this scene triggered his epiphany that“The thing with kids is,if they want to grab the gold ring,you have to let them do it,and not say anything.If they fall off they fall off,but it’s bad if you say anything to them”(Salinger,1964:67).At this specific period of time,Holden was no longer obsessed of being a catcher in the rye,he now was aware that everything would change through time,therefore,children should adjust themselves to the outside world in the process of initiation,for nobody could protect them forever.The time he was experiencing this epiphany,the rain falled.He did not went over to the carrousel for shelter,instead,he stuck around on the bench for quite a while waiting for the rain to pour him wet,just like he finally prepared himself to face the fact of entering adulthood.“the way old Phoebe kept going around and around was damn near bawling,I felt so damn happy”(Salinger,1964:114),because he finally understood that though the world was full of ugliness and hypocrisy,happiness and kindness still shone.So,if he could not change the way it existed,tried to cherish the beautiful things around.That is why he decided to stay at last,a mature decision marked the accomplishment of his initiation.

5 Conclusion

Through the detailed analysis of the written pattern of temptation—roaming—puzzlement—epiphany in The Catcher in the Rye,we can conclude that in American initiation story,the protagonist’s growth is accomplished during his roaming journey,and the puzzlement aroused from the journey provides him with the experience for meditation,which can trigger protagonist’s epiphany therefore help him enter his adulthood.

参考文献

[1]Salinger J D.The Catcher in the Rye[M].Toronto:Bantam Books,1964.

[2]芮渝萍.美国成长小说研究[M].北京:中国社会科学出版社,2004.

篇4：麦田里的守望者

我想霍尔顿如果不是个少年，而是个中老年人，那他可真烦人。《麦田里的守望者》里的这位主人公，看什么都不顺眼。他讨厌学校，讨厌同学，讨厌父母。他甚至讨厌那些喜欢说“祝你好运”的人，那些说“很高兴认识你”的人，以及在钢琴演奏中瞎鼓掌的人。他当然还讨厌数学物理地理历史以及除了写作之外的一切学科。一个甚至无法从学习中得到乐趣的人，可真烦人。

关键是他的痛苦也没有什么“社会根源”。生活在他的时代和国家，他既不能抱怨“扭曲人性的专制社会”，也不能抱怨“愚蠢的应试教育”，他只是用鸡毛蒜皮的方式讨厌着那些鸡毛蒜皮的事情而已。

但这一切唧唧歪歪，都可以以“无辜少年反抗压抑的社会秩序”的名义而被宽容，甚至被喝彩——据说后来美国有很多青少年刻意模仿霍尔顿——因为他是个少年。在青春的掩护下，颓废是勇气，懒惰是反抗，空虚是性感。有一段时间甚至有人为此类文艺作品起了个类型名称，叫做“残酷青春”。简直没有比这更无赖的词：什么叫残酷青春？老年残不残酷？残酷到人们都懒得理会它的残酷。童年残不残酷？残酷到孩子们都无力表达它的残酷。更不要说倒霉的中年，残酷到所有人的残酷都归咎于它的残酷。所以说到残酷，青春哪有那么悲壮，简直可以垫底。

但也许《麦田里的守望者》并不仅仅是一部青春小说。它是关于一个人在看透人生之注定失败后如何说服自己去完成这个失败的小说。小说里，中学生霍尔顿想：好好学习是为什么呢？为了变得聪明。变得聪明是为什么呢？为了找到好工作。工作又是为什么呢？为了买卡迪拉克。买卡迪拉克又是为什么呢？天知道。

当然他可以追求别的：知识、文学、音乐，和心爱的人坐在床边说话，以及思考“中央公园的鸭子冬天上哪儿去了”。但是，追求这些，他就远离了愤怒，而愤怒——只有愤怒——是感知自我最偷懒的方式。

其实仔细想想，霍尔顿面对的“社会”并没有那么可恶。无论是室友、女友或老师，似乎都不是什么黑暗势力，只是一群“不好不坏”的人而已。如果作者以第一人称写他们，也许会是一个一模一样的故事。但这个社会最糟糕的地方，也许恰恰是它甚至不那么糟糕——这些不好不坏的人，以他们的不好不坏，无情剥夺了霍尔顿愤怒的资格，而愤怒——至少愤怒——本可以成为他感知自我的方式。

其实满世界都是这样的人。16岁的霍尔顿，30岁的霍尔顿，60岁的霍尔顿。他们看透了世界之平庸，但无力超越这平庸。他们无力成为“我”，但又不屑于成为“他”。他们感到痛苦，但是真的，连这痛苦都很平庸。这世上有多少人看透人生之虚无并感到愤怒，这愤怒早就不足以成为个性。事实上自从愤怒成为时尚，它简直有些可鄙。

所以该小说里最大的悖论就是逃跑。一方面，霍尔顿渴望逃到西部，装个聋哑人，了此一生；但是另一方面，他又想做个“麦田守望者”，将那些随时可能坠入虚无的孩子们拦住。整个小说里，最打动我的是那一幕：他经过两天的游荡已经筋疲力尽，过马路的时候，每走一步，都似乎在无限下沉。然后他想到了他死去的弟弟艾里。他在心里对艾里说：亲爱的艾里，别让我消失，请别让我消失。

在《从头再来》里，崔健唱道：我想要离开，我想要存在。在同一首歌里，他又唱道：我不愿离开，我不愿存在。

篇5：《麦田的守望着》英文读后感

他讨厌这个肮脏的世界，他讨厌表里不一的人，他讨厌身边虚假的人，但是，他却必须和他们交往。他讨厌看电影，可到了闲来无事时，他总是去电影院打发时间。霍尔顿没有真正的好朋友，只有肮脏的阿克莱，伪君子斯特拉德莱塔……但是他讨厌他们，但是却只有无奈，因为他无法改变现状。他看不惯这个世道，所以他苦闷、踌躇、彷徨，自己的心事也只能被自己扛着。

霍尔顿一直都希望自己能够勇敢和坚强。但实际中，他却很胆小。被别人欺负以后，只会做一些虚幻的白日梦，来幻想自己把他们打败时的情景。他被学校开除后，都不敢贸然回家，蹑手蹑脚地回去还一定要躲避着父母。他一直是靠着些虚假的幻想来安慰自己。

After reading the book “The Catcher in the Rye”, a young man appeared in front of me-he was a bad boy in the eyes of an adult, because everything he did and thought was too “innocent”. And his grades are so bad that almost no one will like him. He is the protagonist of this story-Holden.

He hates this dirty world, he hates people who are different from each other, he hates the false people around him, but he has to associate with them. He hates watching movies, but when nothing happens, he always goes to the cinema to pass the time. Holden has no real good friends, only the dirty Akle, hypocrite Stella Deleta...but he hates them, but he has no choice but to change the status quo. He couldnt get used to this world, so he was depressed, hesitant, hesitant, and his own mind could only be carried by himself.

篇6：麦田里的守望者读后感

“不管怎么样，我老是想像一大群小孩儿在一大块麦田里玩一种游戏，有几千个，旁边没人——我是说没有岁数大一点儿的——只有我，我会站在一道破悬崖边上——我是说要是他们跑起来不看方向，我就得从哪儿过来抓住他们。我整天就干那种事，就当个麦田里的守望者得了。我知道这个想法很离谱，但这是我惟一真正想当的。”

--J?D塞林格《麦田里的守望者》

这本书并不厚，只有两百多页，但它却是上个世纪美国影响了一代青年的畅销书。同样读完这本书的我，拥有着那莫名的惆怅。

本书以主人公霍尔顿自叙的语气讲述自己被学校开除后在纽约城游荡将近两昼夜的经历和心灵感受。它不仅生动细致地描绘了一个不安现状的中产阶级子弟的苦闷仿徨、孤独愤世的精神世界，一个青春期少年矛盾百出的心理特征，也批判了成人社会的虚伪和做作。霍尔顿是个性格复杂而又矛盾的青少年的典型。他有一颗纯洁善良、追求美好生活和崇高理想的童心。他对那些热衷于谈女人和酒的人十分反感，对校长的虚伪势利非常厌恶，看到墙上的下流字眼便愤愤擦去，遇到修女为受难者募捐就慷慨解囊。他对妹妹菲芯真诚爱护，百般照顾。为了保护孩子，不让他们掉下悬崖，他还渴望终生做一个“麦田里的守望者”，发出“救救孩子”般的呼声，

可是，愤世嫉俗思想引起的消极反抗，还有那敏感、好奇、焦躁、不安，想发泄、易冲动的青春期心理，又使得他不肯读书，不求上进，追求刺激，玩世不恭;他抽烟、酗酒、打架、调情，甚至找妓女玩。他觉得老师、父母要他读书上进，无非是要他“出人头地……以便将来可以买辆混帐凯迪拉克”。他认为成人社会里没有一个人可信，全是“假仁假义的伪君子”。

这是多么悲惨的一个世界，而年仅16岁的.霍尔顿却不得不与这个世界妥协，是的，他 要长大，时光是某种节制而无情的东西，宇宙间最大的暴君，不必敬畏却必须服从。他是多么渴望的是朴实和真诚，但遇到的全是虚伪和欺骗，而他又无力改变这种现状，只好苦闷、彷徨、放纵，最后甚至想逃离这个现实世界，到穷乡僻壤去装成一个又聋又哑的人。

再看看开头，那将是多么美好的一个地方，没有冷嘲，没有虚伪，有的只是童真善良。所以霍尔顿是那么地爱她的妹妹，他不愿意妹妹被这社会污染，不要再让这些孩子如他一样堕入深谷般的虚无，他们不会忧伤，不会有阴翳的绝望，永远不会在暗中挣扎，渴求光明又遥不可及，永远不会让率真的天性蒙上伪善，谁能说这不是黄金世界呢?