Should There Be Banned Book The Catcher In The Rye

Censorship takes away the intentions left by the creator. It becomes bland, and unoriginal. Words set the mood of the story and character’s behavior within a work. It is important for explicit material to remain raw and natural. It is meant to show what’s underneath the rock, and behind closed curtains. For example, in Fahrenheit 451, Captain Beatty states, "So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless” (Bradbury 39). Books expose man as imperfect beings that make mistakes, emotionally hurt, and live in a troubled society. Instead of dealing with their personal problems and society’s, the people ignored books, simplified them to sentences through censorship, and eventually banned them from their own lives. They surrounded themselves in a bubble of ignorance from the world to live in bliss. Their solution for happiness was removing evidence of controversial and troubling flaws from their lives entirely. Books burned away, so they no longer had to face their faults or take notice of their society’s and government’s corruption. As Captain Beatty explains, "’Now let 's take up the minorities in

If I was the librarian, I would not get rid of (or censor) any of the books, excluding “Catcher in the Rye.”

From its publication, The Catcher in the Rye gained widespread aversion from schools through its blatant profanity. But despite the time gap since the publication in the 1950s until now, the book explores immortal themes of adolescence and maturing still relevant today. Symbolizing the average teenage life, adolescents throughout the country are able to connect to Holden without question. As Holden agonizes over his purpose and depression, teens relate to this some intangible part of themselves. Holden frustrates over dating, drinking, low grades, switching schools, and life in general. Suddenly, in a second, as the adult world threatens the once serene childhood, as the weight of responsibility of being an adult crashes, Holden crumbles.

There are people who would like to see The Catcher in the Rye banned from our schools because it contains disturbing issues. In my opinion they are overlooking the message that J.D. Salinger was trying to communicate. In this novel, the characters exhibit a wide scope of behaviors from honorable to ignominious. The novel presents issues such as respect for religion, or lack thereof. As though these issues were not enough by themselves, there is also the subject of intolerance of others. How, may you ask, should this novel be allowed in our schools? Well, the answer lies deep within the symbolism of the novel,

Many schools throughout the United States have banned The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger from their curriculums. There has been much debate on whether or not teachers should be able to include it as a part of their lesson, and if copies should be allowed in libraries. However, without a doubt, The Catcher in the Rye should be apart of schools’ curriculums for anyone above elementary school. There are very few inappropriate themes, banning the novel would be neglecting the First Amendment, and would also ignore a good chance for teens to relate to a character their age.

"Holden Caufield, the protagonist, swears steadily throughout the book. His curses are of the tamest kind, though, "damn", "hell", "crap", "ass", and he curses so self-consciously and so consistently that the words lose most of their vulgarity. Most of the cursing in the book would not even be rated PG-13 if it were in a movie," (Chandler).

In 1951, the public was introduced to sixteen year old Holden Caulfield, a character created and narrated by J.D. Salinger, in his first novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Throughout the book’s lifetime, it has been a subject of constant debates and controversies. The novel has only been the target of ridicule and criticisms, but has also sparked intriguing discussion on its validity for use of high schools (Top 10 Censored Books). The Catcher in the Rye is banned due to meeting the requirements for censorship. Censorship is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts (Merriam-Webster).

Many books have been questioned and challenged. Even as far as to banning them. But what exactly is a banned book and why are they banned? A banned book is a book that has been censored by an authority, a government body, a library, or a even school system. A book that has been banned is actually removed from a library or school system. The actual contextual reasons as to banning them is use of explicit violence, gore, sexuality, explicit language, religion, or dark times in history. On the non-contextual side of the reason why they are banned books are usually because with the best intentions to protect people, frequently children, from difficult philosophies and information. Teachers, or even more common adults, often censor books from

The Catcher in the Rye by: J. D. Salinger was banned for the colorful language that was offensive to some. Many felt the language was far to colorful for young readers, but others loved it with all their hearts. The people who hated it, challenged the book and proceeded to have it banned. From what I’ve read, this is a battle over a book, one that has lasted five or six generations. The banning of books has gone on for a long time, but now it’s time to figure out if we should continue the practice.

The reasons to challenge these books are varied. The most common reason to challenge or ban a book is because of its sexual content. The Catcher in the Rye is one such book that has been challenged constantly because of its sexual content. It was challenged in Goffstown, New Hampshire school in 1994 because of its sexual exploits. It was removed and then later reinstated at Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, Georgia (2000) when in 1999, a parent complained about the sex and violence in the book.

Langston Wilson “catcher in the rye essay” Since being published in 1951 the book “Catcher in the rye” by J.D Salinger has been under fire by school districts all over the country for its mildly explicit content and adult references and in some cases the book was banned from being read as part of the school curriculum which seems a little outrageous i mean could a book really be that bad? The main argument against catcher in the rye is its im their word “explicit content” referring to the language and references that are in the book, but as a highschool student you are exposed to way worse on a constant basis on tv shows, movies, video games & so on i mean honestly look at shows rated pg-13 there is light cursing and mildly violent content in these shows. These are just a few of a plethora of things in which the “explicit content” is worse than that found in catcher in the rye. For example the tv show Degrassi an older show on teen nick that has multiple sexual references and cussing is rated pg-13 and is appropriate for teens in highschool to watch and visually see the content but a book that does nothing but references is not allowed what sense does that make?

“Book Banning” may seem like an issue of the past, but, in fact, it is still a very pertinent issue in the U.S. today. These classic books have been banned at one time or another: Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, The Harry Potter series. You’re probably wondering how these, extremely famous, books can be so censored in America today. There are many reasons that are given in regards to book censorship. For instance, language or profanity, violence, sexual explicitness, or “uncomfortable” topics, such as rape and race relations. Christian groups have requested that a countless number of books, with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ+) themes, be taken out of schools and libraries The banning and censorship of books can happen in many places and ways; taking them off school reading lists, or even out of libraries and bookstores.

There are many lists of censored books that come out every year; one of those lists is the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990-2000. On this list the Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger ranks at number 13. Forever by Judy Blume ranks at number eight and the Harry Potter series by R.K. Rowling ranks at number seven. Catcher in the Rye is censored because of the incidents of depression, nervous breakdown, impulsive spending, sexual exploration, vulgarity, and other erratic behavior. Mainly these are problems that go against traditional American values. Judy Blume’s, Forever is censored because of its sexual content involving two high school seniors and their decision to have sex for the first time. Lastly, Christian activists are vocal about the Harry Potter

It is my belief that since by the time the child is required to read such literature in school, they are at an age where they can distinguish between things that should and should not be said and it is the job of the parents to educate the child that just because they say it in a book does not mean he or she should.Another subject common to banned and censored books is sexuality.

The Catcher in the Rye features a multitude of examples in which Holden is overwhelmingly suicidal and represents undesirable viewpoints. At one point in the novel, Holden admits, “what I really felt like though, was committing suicide” (Salinger 116). His pessimistic attitude and outlook on life can have a negative effect on the reader. “[The book] has been banned on the lighter premises of using profanities and being sexually explicit/suggestive, while it has also been banned for darker interpretations of the book, such as being part of a Communist plot, anti-religious, and promotive of homosexuality and perversion” (Bohan). The supports for banning are prevalent throughout the book, with no doubt that they are factual reasons. Nevertheless, the literary value and representation of adolescents in any time period overwhelm the reasons for banning the book.