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The Importance Of Censorship In The Catcher In The Rye

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Introduction: Did you know that you have the power and audacity to challenge censorship? According to the American Library Association in 2016 there have been 323 cases of books being challenged across the US. Books are often challenged because of sexual explicitness, violence, and vulgar language. With such a high number of books being challenged, not all of them make their way to getting banned. The American Library Association provided the information that only 10% of books that are being challenged are taken off the shelves. With such a dwindling number of books becoming banned, these books are still accessible to readers that may not be appropriate for their maturity level. The Catcher in the Rye is one of them.

Context: The Catcher in the Rye is about the experience of Holden Caufield and his journey throughout him his college. Holden was failing all but one of his classes and decided to drop out before he got kicked out. He makes his way through New York with various incidents that occur throughout his path. Holden is telling his experience as a narrator while he is receiving treatment in a mental institute.

Vulgarity is one complaint and issue that The Catcher in the Rye receives numerous amounts of times. Throughout the whole book, the main character, Holden, uses profanity quite often. For example, Holden uses language such as "damn", "crap", "ass", and "hell". These words are not entirely the most vulgar words, but Holden is very repetitive with

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