Catcher In The Rye Should Be Banned Essay

Armando
Junior English
25 November 2013
Bad Reputation Did you ever think that books that contain sex, obscene language, and immoral subjects could make a good book? The Catcher in the Rye is a prime example. The book has been on the banned reading list since the days following its publishing. The book was said to be “immoral and inappropriate that in 1960, a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was fired for assigning the book to an eleventh-grade English class.” (“Banned Book: The Catcher”) The Catcher in the Rye should be read in schools because it gives a crystal clear image on how the world contains sex, violence, and motifs of lying and deception.
The world is not perfect; it is filled with unpleasant situations involving sex. Holden
Holden Caulfield is no exception; he gets into a fight with his roommate at the college he attends. “‘Now, shut up, Holden, God damn it- I’m warning ya,’ he said. I really had him going. ‘If you don’t shut up, I’m gonna slam ya one.’ ‘Get your dirty stinking moron knees off my chest.’ ‘If I letcha up, will you keep your mouth shut?’ ‘Yes.’ He got up off me, and I got up, too. My chest hurt like hell from his dirty knees. ‘You’re a dirty stupid sonuva-bitch of a moron,”(Salinger 58). It may not be the goriest fight, but it certainly does give off a bad aura about the book. The fight situation in the book should be portrayed as a life lesson for teens especially who are getting ready to take the next step into college. Along with fighting, The Catcher In The Rye, also uses language that some people consider violent and or inappropriate. The reality of it is that, all high teenagers and adults use foul language as a way to emphasize emotions. “How often do you swear? the results showed that the average amount of swearing among students was 3 words and the average among teachers was 2 words during a single lunch period.” (“Banned Book: The Catcher”) the language use in the book only helps the teenage reader relate to the story and helps them understand the situations that are occurring within the book. Teaching
The Catcher In The Rye, has many situations where Holden Caulfield is lying in order to hopefully prevent any drama from occurring. The main lie Holden tries to keep up is about not telling his parents he has been kicked out of yet another school. He says: “well they’ll be pretty irritated about it, they really will. This is about the fourth school I’ve gone to”(Salinger 22). Holden is afraid of his parent’s reaction so he decides it is best to hide the truth from them as long as possible, Or at least until, he can return home on Christmas break. Because of this lie, Holden is forced to stay away from his home for three days. He must live on his own and try to make it in on the streets before he can return home. Lying is never morally justified to do no matter what the purpose is. In the real world, people lie on a day-to-day basis. Parents and people who tried to ban The Catcher In The Rye, for encouraging children to lie, have sadly misinterpreted the true moral of the book. The true moral of the situations of lying are to show that when you lie, you have to keep digging yourself a deeper and deeper whole in order to keep up that one small lie. If you would of just told the truth, you could save yourself all the trouble of having to fuel a