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Banning The Catcher In The Rye

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The Catcher in the Rye, a controversial novel written by J.D Salinger, follows the life of a troubled teen named Holden Caulfield. Set over a period of 3 days in New York during the 1950’s, the plot follows the escapades of Holden, after he is expelled from his preparatory school. The novel, narrated through Holden's stream of consciousness, highlights modern teenage struggles while skimming many controversial topics. Its controversial content of sex, alcohol, and foul language has caused it to be banned from many libraries and school curriculums. Although, to some, The Catcher in the Rye, is seen as immoral and blasphemous, in reality, a highly moral book teaches readers about teenage struggles in a non-glamorized way.
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Often, the novels geared toward teens glamorize mental illnesses and poke fun at teenage struggles, but in The Catcher in the Rye, they are presented in a straightforward and informational way. Holden’s posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and manic depression are parallel to the theme of the story, and help the reader decipher his actions better, while not making them seem glamorous. Most other books glamorize mental illnesses by making them just an interesting quirk of a major character and not a serious problem. The Catcher in the Rye does the opposite of that. Holden’s illnesses are depicted as a major problem, and you can tell that they are ruining his life. None of what he is going through is depicted as glamorous and none of it is likely to make a teen want to be like him. Because his illness is depicted in this way, it is teaching anyone who reads it an important lesson about managing mental illnesses. It teaches the reader to take mental illnesses seriously and emphasized the importance of treatment for the illnesses as soon as possible, or it could mess-up your life. In addition, unlike other novels, The Catcher in the Rye highlighted many of modern teenage struggles instead of downplaying them into something insignificant. The struggles of not wanting to upset or disappoint your parents, not knowing …show more content…

The parents believe that they need to shield their children from the harsh adult world, akin to Holden’s belief of needing to protect the innocence of little

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