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.
One example as to why I believe The Catcher in the Rye shouldn’t be censored for anyone in middle school and above is because the students would be able to handle the
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They’re rare and evenly spread throughout the book and they almost never come off as a shock because they’re so nonchalantly mentioned. Thus, although the novel does, in fact, contain inappropriate moments, they aren’t the main focus and students would be able to handle it with maturity and are therefore suitable for any student in middle school or above.
Another reason as to why I believe The Catcher in the Rye should be available to all students above elementary school is because censoring it would be ignoring the first amendment rights of free speech. “If librarians caved into every demand to remove materials from their collections, they would not have much left to put on the shelves. Only materials that offended no one would be spared. Such a situation might appeal to some people, but it would not serve the needs of our democracy or satisfy the constitutional requirements for free speech.” (Steffens). Including a diverse selection of books in a library or school setting would be the promotion of free speech and a diverse selection of opinions and views. However, if books keep getting censored and removed, that would be ignoring the first amendment and almost all opinion-based materials would be gone. Secondly, “As agents of the government, libraries are bound by the Constitution to promote free speech and diversity of opinion.” (Steffens).
“Hell!” the operator’s cigarette moved in his lips. “We got these cases, nine or ten at night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built,” is a quote from the book that shows a bit of mature language that not be okay for some children. Another quote from the book gives an example of the same thing, “I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks.” Those are not even the worst parts of the book. I believe some components would definitely be not okay with some parents.
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,
For many years people have argued about the inclusion of The Cather in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger in the high school english curriculum. This is such due to the inappropriate and adult oriented themes within If considered, many times within the novel the main character will face situations in which that the negative and vulgar themes will blossom into something meaningful that the reader can benefit from as a person and as a student. While the vulgarity and adult themes in The Catcher in the Rye are indeed inappropriate for adolescent students, ultimately its underlying themes of self discovery and possessing moral values provides life and ethical lessons that can be applied in the classroom as well as on a daily basis and therefore, the
According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver,
the book “The catcher in the rye” has been on and off the ban list for years and has had many controversial texts taught in schools. the book has also been involved with the death of former Beatles guitarist and lead vocalist John Lennon. After John lennon was shot his killer Mark David Chapman proceeded to open the catcher in the rye and read it until he was apprehended. John Hinckley, the man who attempted to kill Ronald Reagan, also was in possession of the book. to be honest it wouldn't make any difference if the book was banned or not im public schools but there are some ups and downs if the book being banned.
There are many pros and cons to altering books for young adults. With a censored book, parents don’t have to be next to their children all the time to make sure that they are reading the right thing. Parents can go to work and not worry that their kids are reading about murder or crazy ideas of a future
Public schools are becoming more laid back about what they teach in each subject to make it less uncomfortable for individuals to talk about; for example, sex education is taught in schools more in depth and at an earlier age today than in the past to make it easier for people to talk about sex in a more mature manner. Banning books that contain sexual content, vulgarity, and violence give children and young adults a reason to snicker about these topics when discussed in class because we are taught that these topics are not appropriate to talk about publicly. There are many factors that play a major role in how an individual perceives certain topics in books. If taught at an earlier age that these topics are suitable for mature
Controlling the knowledge that is available to students has been around as early as 339 B.C., when a famous Athenian philosopher, Socrates was forced to kill himself because he was teaching his students information that his society deemed inappropriate. Although the United States does not kill teachers for teaching students information that are found unsuited for kids’ adolescent minds, there is still controversy about the content of certain books, because of language, sexual references, age group, religious views, racism, and many more. One book that has been banned or challenged since it was published in 1951, is the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye is about a troubled and struggling 16-year-old, Holden Caulfield,
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?
If a controversial book will be read in the classroom, it is the teacher’s responsibility to prepare the student for it. The teacher must ensure that the book is age-appropriate for the student, and is appropriate for the subject matter that the teacher is covering. Reading books such as Catcher in The Rye without discussion can be more harmful than helpful to a student. The Catcher in The Rye has obscene language, violence, occult practices, and sexual references (Doyle 2010). This book should only be read by a mature age group with a
Hackensack High School is considering banning the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger from the sophomore English class's curriculum. Several parents have sent complaints about the foul language and sexual situations described in the novel. Book banning is a highly controversial topic that has been part of our history since the first words were written down on paper. Catcher in the Rye should not be banned. Sophomores in high school should be mature enough to handle this kind of writing, educators should have an obligation to challenge their students with novels that may make them slightly uncomfortable, and banning the book infringes on the basic rights America was found upon.
However, these people fail to see all the positive things this novel teaches, and instead choose to tear it apart. The Catcher in the Rye’s controversial material should be exposed to children to show
First we have the many controversial topics that are discussed in the book. Many people often try to completely shut profanity out of their children's lives, which is simply impossible. At the age that one would read this, they hear plenty more from their
There has been many arguments whether it should be taught in the curriculum. It has also been widely debated for various reasons because the story is about a boy in high school who drops out and is involved in drugs and prostitutes. This novel was not an ideal book to teach to students which is why some countries have banned Catcher in the Rye from the curriculum. The banning of Catcher in the Rye I believe will make our society safer by having
Many parents complained to the school’ssuperintendent “what type of books are my children reading” in that reason being the content thatthe book contained . [Chasan, daniel J. "Why J.D. Salinger's catcher in the rye' still provokesbook bans." 2010 ed. crosscut. Web. 1 Dec. 2015].The parents got the book to not be checkedout by anyone in the library because they were not mature enough to read that.