Preview

Should The Catcher In The Rye Be Taught In American High Schools

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
635 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Should The Catcher In The Rye Be Taught In American High Schools
Many people argue whether or not the book, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, is an appropriate text to be taught in American high schools. Holden Caulfield, the main character, is telling his story from a rest home he is in for therapy. He has been through quite a lot as a child, so he is extremely bitter about everything. Holden has been kicked out of schools, and put himself in dreadful situations, however he gives good insight on life itself. The Catcher in the Rye is worthwhile to be taught in American high schools because of the lessons and themes it teaches teenagers.
The Catcher in the Rye, is appropriate to be taught to high schoolers because of the lessons they can learn from Holden. Many teens can learn from Holden that preserving

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The first reason why all high school students need to read, The Catcher in the Rye, it shows people they are not alone in their frustrations. Unfortunately, now more than ever a million different kinds of distractions like; social media, the internet, drugs, alcohol, and many more are thrown at today’s high schoolers. Salinger wrote this book in 1951, an extremely censored time, and it instantly became popular among young adults because of the “realness” to the story. This book allowed them to actually see the hard aspects of life. Even though, life as a teen drastically changed since the book published, the connection still exists to today. According to the Huffington Post, “his frustrations with the disingenuousness of others, and especially his grievances about…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The world of childhood is sheltered from the corrupt adult world and maturation is a sometimes difficult pathway between the two. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger, is a fictional novel seen through the eyes of sixteen year old Holden Caulfield after he is expelled from Pencey Prep. Holden leaves Pencey two days early to explore New York City before he has to return home. On his excursion, he meets prostitutes, nuns, his old girlfriend, and his sister Phoebe, while traveling around the city contemplating life and his future. Through the varying behaviors of Holden Caulfield, his maturity is shown to be stuck in a limbo between his imminent departure from the childhood world and his fear to move into the world of adults. Holden finds sexual activity intriguing in some situations, but also perverse and immoral. When Holden comes home,…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ever since its publication in 1951, the quality of J. D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, has been a controversy. The story has been praised for its enlightening views on society, but criticized for its use of slang and sexual content. Nevertheless, the story is worth both reading and teaching, for the story still relates to the lives of today’s teenagers, introduces a unique writing style to its readers, and teaches its readers an important lesson about phoniness. Throughout the novel, the main character, Holden Caulfield, attempts to catch innocent children before they fall off the cliff and die or before they lose their innocence and become a corrupt and phony adult. While doing so, he suffers isolation…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Phoebe Caulfield Catcher

    • 2282 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye reveals a teenager’s dramatic struggle against death and growing up. The book is composed of stories after the protagonist Holden Caulfield’s expulsion from a private school. He leaves school early to explore New York before returning home, interacting with teachers, prostitutes, nuns, an ex-girlfriend and his sister along the way. We characterize Holden as an innocent child that possesses an ideal fantasy of becoming a catcher in the rye, protecting an unsophisticated world of love, passion and justice. It seems Holden, a “guardian” towards childhood and innocence is the hero or “catcher” without any questions. Throughout the entire book, however,…

    • 2282 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger is a story about a depressed prep student, Holden. Holden has been kicked out of countless prep schools. He gets kicked out of Pencey before winter break; the only option is to go back home. As he travels home he goes through rounds of alcohol and has trouble with women. Once he reaches home he talks to Phoebe; his younger sister. Phoebe asks Holden what his dream job was; saving kids from losing their innocence. While spending time with his sister, Holden realizes you have to let kids grow up even if they make mistakes along the way.…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many adolescents often suffer from a lack of direction. Not knowing what they are doing or where they are headed, faced with the many obstacles of both life and adult society as they struggle to find direction in the world. Many long for acceptance and love that they do not receive. This description perfectly suits the situation befalling Holden Caulfield, the controversial protagonist and main character of J. D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. In the novel, after being expelled from his fourth school, Pencey Prep, Holden goes on a journey of self discovery through New York. He becomes increasingly unstable in a world in which he feels he does not belong, with the company of people he deems "phonies". Holden, not unlike a typical teenager, is also on his own quest in order to find himself, yet he re­sorts to ignoring his problems as a way of dealing with them. Holden tells his story from the confines of a psychiatric hospital, having been there to recover from a neurotic breakdown caused by his outlandish and often over the top actions. Holden Caulfield’s unachievable dreams, delusional fantasies, and erratic behaviour all lead to the breakdown of his character throughout the course of the novel Catcher in the Rye.…

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Holden Caulfield Phony

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is a reflection of his own life being shown through a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield. Like Salinger in the novel Holden jumps from prep school to prep school not finishing each time, however excels in English classes. Holden’s life in the novel shook the nation with controversy and curiosity. Illustrated in the text it conveys extreme depression, sexual tension, love, and lewd language. Holden attempts to see the “phony” world through a new light, however fails due to the type of person he is, his troubled background, sexual confusion, family issues, and fallacious world we all live in.…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though many people rightly believe that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be used in schools today; many people often oppose to the use of this novel in high schools due to various reasons. One reason many naysayers say that the novel should not be used in schools today is due to the use of the N-word. According to their defense, the N-word often is offensive to blacks out there because it reminds them of what is used to be like, when there was slavery. It brings everybody back to times when blacks, or African Americans, were most often associated with violence and hate, because not many whites treated them fairly (Huckleberry). Another reason many critics say the novel should not be used in high schools today is due to how the novel…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Written in 1951 during Post-World War II America by J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye details the deteriorating psychological state of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, a pessimistic misanthrope who is convinced that the adult world is spurious and full of “phonies.” Throughout the bildungsroman, Holden’s various interactions with incommensurable individuals highlight his frequent obsession with the child-like innocence that he desperately covets and fails to protect in himself and others around him. While resisting maturation, Holden believes he resents society because society is fraudulent and artificial,…

    • 1797 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holden Caulfield, a cynical and paradoxical teenager not ready to embrace adulthood goes on a journey to explore the phoniness of the adult world. J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye published in 1951 reflects on Holden as a child as well as an adult. His neglection of adulthood and his blindness on the innocence of youth presents a great challenge in his life. The bulk of the novel displays Holden, a 16 year old teenager who just flunked out of Pencey Prep fleeing to his hometown, New York City in hope of staying at a hotel for a few days before revealing his expulsion to his parents. Throughout his stay, Holden has unusual encounters with past colleagues, his former neighbor, his sister Phoebe, and his old teachers. From these encounters, Holden acquires different perspectives on life and adulthood.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    While the 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye has been challenged many times by school boards across America, it has also won the hearts of countless fans, who claim that the merits outweigh the controversial issues. Sailinger's most popular novel has been ridiculed for its use of vulgar language, sexual references, alcohol abuse, and violence. Although the novel contains mature subject matter, The Catcher in the Rye should be included in all high school curriculums because it is a classic coming of age story that students can learn from and connect to their own lives.…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye is a brutal reflection upon society, guilt, mortality, sexuality, deceit, and depression, all among adolescents. Holden’s exploration of his society and molding of his own, “bleak moral climate that destroys the soul,” relates to all teenagers on one level or another. Salinger is the author of one of the first novels to ever explore adolescence from such a raw perspective. Times change, but people…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many reasons for Catcher In The Rye to be included or excluded in high schools. Profanity helps support display the realistic speech of characters. Also, profanity should not be harmful to the students because of the frequent use of it in society. Even though schools will argue keeping Cather In The Rye in existence, Cather in The Rye should be included in high school…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger is a coming of age story. It is a story narrated by the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who is a sixteen year old boy, but has a mind of a ten year old innocent kid. In the beginning he thinks of innocence as important, but later he realizes that growing up cannot be stopped. He wanders around the New York City by himself and gains experience of life that teaches him to become mature. This book is clearly written to show the theme of coming of age because it shows many symbols of coming of age, it shows the changes of young adults in modern life, and it creates an image of Holden growing up.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about a young Holden Caulfield’s growth into maturity. Caulfield begins the novel as an inexperienced boarding school student attending Pencey Prep, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, who is struggling academically and socially. After getting kicked out of yet another boarding school, Caulfield travels to New York City before going home. After staying in New York for the time period between when he got kicked out and when he can return home Caulfield learns the struggles of living in the adult world. As he experiences New York, it opens his eyes to the painfulness of growing up and he wants to escape it. A major theme in this story is keeping innocence, which is portrayed through Caulfield’s theory about the catcher in the rye, his need to protect his sister, and the red hunting hat.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays