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Why Catcher In The Rye Should Not Be Banned

697 Words3 Pages

The book, Catcher in the Rye, is commonly banned all over the country; whether it’s libraries or schools. It should not be banned because overall it’s a perpetually good book with good lessons to learn. Does it have profanity and other things like it, yes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a book worthy of reading. My reasoning for believing that Catcher in the Rye should not be banned is, first of all, it teaches important lessons, second, it’s wrong to ban any sort of possible knowledge, and third, it’s a schools job to teach about different issues and ignoring them is a bad way to go about it. So to start off, how does The Catcher in the Rye teach important lessons? Well, we see Holden going through so many things. Such as mental health issues (which are especially a huge topic in today's society) “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window” (Salinger 116-117). In the quote, it’s shown that Holden is having severe issues with his mental health. He wants to jump out the window and basically cease to exist. Throughout the book, we see all of his issues continuously come up in all of his …show more content…

Instead of ignoring certain books that cover different issues, why not teach children about how to handle certain situations. Like for example how in The Catcher in the Rye, how Holden is a frequent smoker and also paid for a prostitute at one point. “You’re trying to chisel me” “Nobody’s tryna chisel nobody”. In these quotes, we saw how bad buying a prostitute turned out. Maurice (the pimp) came back and stole more money from Holden than he originally said was necessary to buy Sunny for a throw. It would be so good for a school to take it upon themselves to talk about all the things that could happen in a situation like that and how Holden might have actually been lucky. There are so many situations where that could’ve wound up with Holden

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It’s not that holden couldn’t do the work that he was given, he could just careless about it. He was more into sports like the fencing team and occasionally girls. Holden also thought that “ It was a terrible school, no matter how you look at it.” Which was found on page five, paragraph two. If holden liked the school better maybe he would have applied himself more and actually did the work he was given.

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Lastly he points out how banning this book will not protect children from everywhere else they can learn about the “cons” of the book in a different environment. Blei’s view on the topic of banning opens one's eyes to the reality of how information about profanities and other obscenities can be transferred to teenagers in ways that may pose a bigger danger than a book. He ties it to Catcher by stating that the book has been thoroughly inspected over the years, so all the themes and messages of the book have been revealed, so there is nothing to hide from parents and teachers. The point of the book has been made clear, and it is a just one, so hiding this book from children is having the opposite effect from what the people banning it want. Catcher in the Rye is a book about a teenager discovering himself, and shouldn’t be censored as it can be very useful and insightful for teenagers or people of the right mental capacity, as to appreciate the book.

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“Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.” - Stephen Chboksy. Books are one of the most benefitting resources that we can use to teach today’s youth.

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Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield’s recounting of the weekend after he gets expelled from the umpteeth time form another private school. His name can be broken down to reveal his struggle to retain his happier childhood memories and innocence, to grow up, and to protect others from the difficulties of life. His first name, Holden, can be interpreted for how he wants to hold onto better times. “I can't remember exactly what I was doing when I heard his goddam stupid footsteps coming down the corridor… When I really worry about something, I don't just fool around… If you knew Stradlater, you'd have been worried, too…

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Just because a book that was written many decades ago may have bad words in it, doesn’t mean that it should be withheld from the students. Additionally, the educational value of, The Catcher in the Rye would be totally lost if a book is banned just for containing “explicit” language. Sophomore students are at the age where they are old enough to know what is appropriate and what isn’t and they can read a book that has bad words in it. If a book is banned because of its explicit content, that overshadows the educational content and the moral lessons that the reader would take away from reading this book.

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When he found out, this led to Holden breaking all the glass windows in his garage out of despair. Holden also recently got expelled from his prep school in New York even though he is very intelligent and had the potential to graduate. These huge losses may have left Holden feeling hopeless and unable to cope with the demands in the real world. Holdens behavior is also with that of someone suffering from depression. He constantly engages in risky and self destructive behavior such as drinking alcohol, smoking, and running away from his home.

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Holden is a very complex character. He has a very angsty, angry, and escapist personality. He classes most other people as "phonies" yet craves closeness with another person. Instead of facing his problems, he prefers to run away from them. The major conflict is within Holden’s psyche.

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People, especially children, are very influential. That is why it is so important to have a diverse array of books in every school library. Reading about minorities, the life experiences of others, and complex topics in general, will make students have a much better understanding of the world around them. This increases the developing social skills in children, and creates an important newfound sense of empathy for the people around them. Some parents believe that if their children read about controversial topics such as drug use, violence, and explicit content, it will encourage them to adopt the habits portrayed in the material that they are

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Holden comes to the conclusion of blaming himself and thinks it is his fault. He thinks he could’ve acted better or did something different to help Allie’s

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In just the 2021-2022 school year, over 1,600 books were censored and banned by over 5,000 schools in the United States (NBC News). The Catcher in the Rye is seen by many as a classic because of its timeless message and deals with many issues that young adults can relate to. However, for many years, The Catcher in the Rye has been under attack by many individuals who feel that the book contains inappropriate issues that should not be dealt with in a high school novel. These issues include, evident sexism, substance abuse, and excessive mature language. Despite these issues, The Catcher in the Rye should stay in high school curriculums because it shows the harsh realities of sexism, substance abuse and overcoming depression, and excessive profanity.

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He believes that because the children haven’t grown up yet they don’t know how important their childhood is like Holden did. He doesn't want them to grow up and regret their childhood like him. The Catcher in the Rye can be compared to many teenagers these days suffering the same as Holden. This novel expresses many lessons that teenagers can learn from like how important it is to have human connections. It allows others to see in another teenager’s mind where they can hopefully connect with him.

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Holden often treats life like a game by not taking it too seriously, even when he should. He gets kicked out of many schools

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Books help us grow and learn and should be available to everyone. Without books we wouldn’t be able to learn some of the valuable lessons that we have learned. Always remember to give every book a fair chance, because you never know if that book will have an important lesson that will help you in

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Children should not learn about such things until they are old enough. Kids can be influenced by the things that they are taught at a young age. “Keeping books with inappropriate content out of libraries protects kids, but does not stop people from reading those books or prevent authors from writing them.” Many people think because they are banned means you can not read them. People can still read these books just not at a young age, this also should not stop authors from writing books such as To Kill a Mockingbird.

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A lot of people hate the school lunches. A lot of people feel as if the food is gross and not up to their liking. Not everyone likes that school lunches changed quite a bit since Michelle Obama’s Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed. Not a lot of sugar is allowed to be on a tray at a time and almost everything is a wheat product. Lunch isn’t enjoyable anymore and people aren’t loving the lunches we had previously from elementary school.

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