The Importance of The Catcher In The Rye
A book about the pitfalls of a sixteen-year-old, a tour of the world through the eyes of a teenager who struggles with maturity and responsibility has been banned: why? The Catcher In The Rye has been critically acclaimed as one of the best books ever written, and yet it has been banned on several occasions for many reasons. J. D. Salinger’s famous novel revolves around a 16-year-old boy named Holden who is kicked out of his school for failing his classes, so he decides to hit the road and head to New York City, where he gets a cab goes to a hotel to stay at for a couple days while he waits to be back at home with his parents on Wednesday. He travels through New York, meeting up with new and old friends, and finally meets up with his younger sister by sneaking into his house. He tells his sister about getting kicked out of school and later tells her that he needs to leave and never come back. This makes his sister want to go with him, as she meets him with packed bags, but Holden refuses and instead takes her to the zoo to go on a merry-go-round. This novel really explores the inner mind of somebody who is lost in the world and demonstrates the subject of responsibility to the readers. J. D. Salinger wrote a book that is viewed as controversial because it speaks of a minor participating in drinking, drugs, foul language, and sexual activities. This book is themed around the idea of the title of the book, keeping children’s innocence and don’t expose them to things that can ruin their motivation. The theme also speaks a lot on how responsibility hits young adults, and how it’s important to recognize that early on. Despite all the hatred towards this fantastic piece of literature, The Catcher In The Rye shouldn’t be censored or banned in any way.
Interestingly enough, The Catcher In The Rye was identified as a banned book because of the suggestive themes that tell a story about a minor participating in things that minors should not be participating in. Many people weren't happy with how this sixteen-year-old was acting, going as far to ban it from most high schools in the U.S. from 1966-1975. Ten years later more controversy arose about the book when it was assigned by a teacher in a local literature class. Parents objected to the book, and the school board banned the book, swaying parents in New Jersey to complain about to their school board about the book. They labeled the book as "explicitly pornographic" and "immoral".(Sova 2) This caused this New Jersey school board to ban the book for everyone but Advanced Placement students.(Ross) This book was banned in schools all across the U.S. because of its use of vulgar language and sensitive themes, and this hurt people on a religious level. Many people didn't agree with the homosexuality in the book, the harsh language both weren't part of many people's religions and the "godlessness" of the main character, Holden Caulfield. This book was definitely banned for religious reasons.
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| "Catcher-in-the-rye-red-cover" Bantam 1/14/06 |
The Catcher In The Rye is a very vulgar book that can be very offensive to many religions, and a good example is when Holden says, "You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times of ten they're mean bastards at heart. I'm not kidding" (Salinger 181). This quote clearly demonstrates the book's non-humorous ways of harsh language; The Catcher In The Rye is absolutely littered with quote even more or just as vulgar as this very quote. For many religions, language like this isn't ever accepted and is typically frowned upon. Bad language is not welcomed by most religions such as Jehovah witnesses, Some Christians, Catholics, and Islam. Another quote that many religions find profane is "In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down" (Salinger 130). This clearly shows Holden's negative outlook on the Bible. Of course, when something negative is being said about a religious book, many religions wouldn't want to be very accepting of the book. Many were upset that Holden was speaking badly about the Disciples, who are pretty big people for a lot of religions and the Bible in general.
Though many religions would have plenty reasons for motivating the banning of this novel, The Catcher In The Rye should never be banned. The most important reason for this book to never be banned anywhere is, many religions and people who aren't big fans of vulgar language don't ever need to read the book. If a book is banned or determined to be unsuitable for a religion or group, then the book is fine to be banned in that religion. Other outside people shouldn't be restricted access to the novel because of that religion or group. People who are offended by The Catcher In The Rye cannot inflict their opinions upon the vast majority of people. The author, J.D. Salinger has settled multiple lawsuits on account of his own books, including one filmmaker who directed a film loosely based on another popular book of Salinger's, Franny and Zooey (Salingerincontext). Salinger censored things that were clearly unfair for other people to use but hasn't spoken about the banning of his books. Salinger has good reason not to speak on the censorship of his books because books are our freedom of expression, speech, and ideas. A world that has limited restrictions is a free world where people can do what they want, but banning that book is silencing a voice. Banning a book is making someone quieter, then the balance is thrown off. Finally, books should never be banned because reading is subjective, not every person will take a line in a book offensively. The lines written in a book don't apply to everyone, so why enforce the banned on everyone, or even a majority? Overall, banning books isn't fair to everyone, and banning a book isn't freedom.
Throughout history, books have been banned for various reasons, whether they were banned because of harsh language, suggestive themes, themes against religion, or just plain hate against a certain group of people they were banned. The world is pretty cut and dry; if something can be considered offensive in anyway, then it will be considered offensive. When an author writes a book, there will be some people who don’t agree with what the book is saying, it will become hurtful if it is taken to heart. Books are stories and opinions, and if one person doesn’t like what a book is about, they are certainly not being forced to read it. The Catcher In The Rye is a banned book
Works Cited
Angelica. “J.D. Salinger's Lawsuits and Censorship.” Salingerincontextorg, salingerincontext.org/j-d-salinger’s-lawsuits-and-censorship/.
GradeSaver, 30 September 2009 Web. 20 March 2018.
Ross, J.J.. Soman Chainani and Adam Kissel, October 10, 2008 and ed. "The Catcher in the Rye Catcher in the Rye: A History of Censorship".
Salinger, J. D. The CATCHER in the RYE. Little, Brown And Company, 1951.
Bantam. “Catcher-in-the-Rye-Red-Cover.” Wikimedia.commons, 14 Aug. 2014, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Catcher-in-the-rye-red-cover.jpg.
