By: Bryce Saulnier, Ryan Irwin and
Josh Gruyters
The Catcher in the Rye is a great piece of literary excellence, but its effect
on society is more negative then positive. Teenagers should not be allowed
to read this book because of its dark timeline of the events of Holden
Caulfield's adolescent life.
Ex- Beatles member John Lennon was campaigning for
peace throughout his whole life. His life ended in a very
violent way when Mark David Chapman decided to shoot
him. Mark David Chapman isolated himself from society,
and instead spoke to the “little people in the walls.”
When police arrested him after the shooting, they found
a book on him: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger.
Police would go on to search his parent’s house where
they found many dark recordings of him singing and
dark letters that showed he struggled with mental
illness. He would go on to say that his “bad side’ took
over when he killed John. He said he worshipped the
Catcher in the Rye and it truly inspired him to do what
he did. Many people began wondering how a book could
have so much influence when another assassination a
year later shocked the world.
Ronald Reagan was a very popular actor before he
ran for office and then later became President. John
Hinckley Jr was a nobody who had an obsession with
Jodi Foster and The Catcher in the Rye. He became
extremely upset after John Lennon's death, and
would listen for hours to his music while reading the
Catcher in the Rye and contemplating suicide. Just
like Holden, he decided to take a trip for a while. He
quit school just like Holden, broke up with his
girlfriend and thought of where to go. He decided he
would travel to the University Jodi Foster was at and
kill her and himself. When he arrived, he bought the
fateful gun and left the Catcher in the Rye in his hotel
room. He read the paper before leaving and saw
Ronald Reagan was in town. He decided to be
spontaneous like Holden and instead go and shoot
the President. He shot the President and 3 others, but
luckily they all survived. Once again the Catcher in
the Rye spoke to someone with a mental illness and
pushed him over the edge into violent acts.
For most of his life, J.D. Salinger was a recluse. When
he was thrust into the spotlight when his book came
out, he avoided the press and stardom and tried to
continue acting like nothing happened. He was
always furious when people tried to tape him or try to
meet him. He sued a wide variety of friends for
including letters he wrote them in their biographies.
He was very controlling and believed in the
frontrunner religion to Scientology. His daughter
nearly died because he didn’t want to take her to the
hospital because he didn’t believe in medicine. His
wife actually escaped with the daughter and would
later divorce him. Many people believe he based
Holden on himself. Jerry Lewis once asked if he could
play Holden if a movie ever came up, and Salinger
replied furiously and said the only actor to play
Holden would be himself and no one else. The top
picture on the left is actually a picture of Salinger
when he realized the girl talking to him was actually
taking pictures of him too.
The Catcher in the Rye has been banned in 100’s
of schools, and in recent years some schools have
been lifting a ban because they have realized it’s a
classic piece of literature. Its been banned for four
main reasons which the next four slides will each
explain.
• Substance Abuse
• Sexual Content
• Profane Language
• Violent Content
Holden constantly smokes throughout the book, and
goes to bars and drinks illegally with a wide variety of
people. All of this is done while he is underage, which
is why groups feel teenagers should not read the
books because it gives them the wrong ideas. Holden
nearly smokes throughout the entire book. One
example of Holden smoking is when he goes to visit
Phoebe. He says that he is out of cigarettes and says
that he smoked 3 packs that day. He ends up taking
even more from his parents stash before he leaves.
An example of Holden drinking can be found almost
in every chapter after the 10 th. He meets Carl Luce for
drinks then ends up calling Sally Hayes and she asks
him if he is drunk, which he answers that he is. He has
two addictions which he doesn’t even try to break,
sending a bad message to readers reading the book.
There is no actual sexually explicit actions in the
book, but there is a lot of talk about underage sex.
Holden says near the start of the book that he can
never get too far with the ladies because when
they say stop, he stops unlike Stradlater. Holden is
furious at the thought of Jane and Stradlater in the
back seat of Ed Bankey’s car. Holden ends up
hiring a prostitute from Maurice about halfway
through the book, but no sexual acts are done, just
talked about. Holden ends up meeting Carl Luce at
a bar, and all Holden wants to talk about with Carl
is his sex life. Some people feel that this book has
way too much underage sexual references for a
book that is supposed to be read by teenagers.
Some people interpret Holden as a sex crazed
teenager that only wants to feel the human touch.
The language in the book is far from school
appropriate. Here are the numbers:
Goddam: 245
Damn: 39
Chirssake: 18
Hell: 281
Fuck: 6
Phoney: 35
The numbers are extremely high for a novel that is
read to teenagers. It is nearly impossible to censor
a book with so much profanity.
This book is not overly violent, but there is a lot of
mention of violent acts. There are only two actual
violent acts that take place: when Holden and
Stradlater fight, and when Holden tells us about
James Castle and how he jumped out the window
and died to avoid his attackers. Holden says
multiple times that if he wasn’t so yellow, he
would punch Maurice. He also had a fantasy of
Maurice shooting him in the gut, then Holden
going down the elevator and shooting Maurice
with a machine gun and having Jane come over
and bandage him up. Opponents of the book say
this idea he comes up with make people think that
if they kill, they will end up getting the girl they
want. You can bring this back to John Hinckley Jr,
who shot Ronald Reagan and 3 other to impress
the love of his life.
http://crosscut.com/2010/03/19/books/19669/Why-JD-Salingers-Catcher-inRye-still-provokes-boo/
http://www.levity.com/corduroy/salinger1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-controversy-over-catcher-rye-jd11568494.html