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Teenage Shootings In Catcher In The Rye

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Introduction
Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger published in 1951 is a fictional story of a boy named Holden Caulfield who is suspended from his high school for bad grades. Written in the first person narrative through the voice of Caulfield, the narration brilliantly brings out the isolation and alienation that many teenagers feel.
The novel has had a huge influence on modern society and on popular culture. It has been associated with many shootings such as that of John Lennon and the attempted assassination of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. The people behind these shootings have been able to relate to Holden's character further provoking them to take such action. While most teenagers relate to Holden's character due to its accurate …show more content…

J.D. Salinger does not censor any of these aspects in his book which was unusual for the conservative times it was written in. This is one of the reasons why the book became popular back in 50s.The emotion of teenage angst is expressed through Holden’s bitter and sarcastic remarks towards the people around him, his falling grades, his need to not confirm to the rules of society. This is the reason Catcher in the Rye has a large number of adolescent fans and although technologically the times have changed, but on an emotional level the alienation that Holden’s character feels is still relatable to any teenager, making it a popular work even today. As Holden very aptly says in regards to the feeling of …show more content…

In 1960, a teacher was fired from school for assigning the book to a class. In 1976, a legislative hearing in Oklahoma City involved a group wanting to stop a bookseller from vending the book. The book has been considered to be one of the most ‘challenged books’ till date. Upon its publication, the reviewer for The New York Times attempted, poorly, to imitate Holden Caulfield's grammatically challenged speech patterns: "This Salinger, he's a short-story guy. And he knows how to write about kids. This book, though, it's too long. Gets kind of monotonous. And he should've cut out a lot about these jerks and all that crumby school. They depress

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