earticle

영어

This study aims to explore how Holden Caulfield, the iconic character in American literature following Huckleberry Fin and Jay Gatsby, gets over his melancholy and fantasies and finally achieves the idea of growing up. The paper mainly utilizes Walter Benjamin’s theoretical ideas such as flâneur, melancholy, constellation of dialectical images sprung from childhood memories, etc, Holden Caulfield’s wandering as a flâneur are contextualized with his contradictory feelings of hatred and enthrallment to New York City and war experience as the historical background which also contradicts dazzling spectacle of the city. Holden, mesmerized yet shocked by spectacles, roams the city to encounter various characters that play symbolic roles to constitute allegories containing violence and fantasies. As being tantamount to Benjamin’s experience dialectically delineated with fragmentary and allegorical images, Holden’s experiences present moments of disillusionments from fantasies—a role of tragic hero devoting his life to save children, permanence of innocence, etc. Holden finally realizes that he cannot be the catcher; rather through creative usage of melancholy he reveals the potential to become an artist.