The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome Salinger was published in 1951. It is a story about adolescent conformity. It uses slang, profanity and discusses things like adolescent sexuality. The book has been described as “promoting perversion”, “immoral,” “anti-white,” “rebellious,” and “profane.” With a whopping “785 dirty words,” a parent once declared the book “Communist.” There have been many attempts to censor the book, from schools specifically, making it one of the most censored books in the US of all time. None prevailed however, because of the rights allowed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution; these rights being the freedom of religion and expression. Therefore, despite all efforts against it, The Catcher in the Rye is, and will remain, a classic book used in classrooms across the country.
From 1966 to 1975, The Catcher in the Rye was the most frequently banned book in schools. Dissent with the book was expressed before that however. In 1960 a teacher was fired for assigning the book to an eleventh grade English class. In 1981 the book was not only the most censored book but also the second most taught book in public schools in the US. From 1990 to 2000, the book was the thirteenth book most attempted to be censored, in 2005 it was in the top ten and in 2006 disappeared entirely from the list.
The Catcher in the Rye has received attention not only by school boards, parents, teachers and librarians, but by the general public as a whole for an infamous few that were apparently obsessed with the book. Mark David Chapman was John Lennon’s assassin. After shooting John Lennon 5 times, he sat down, took out The Catcher in the Rye and began reading a few pages of it until the police arrived. He wrote in the front cover of the book, “This is my Statement. Holden Caufield- The Catcher in the Rye.” Another very famous Catcher in the Rye enthusiast is John Hinckley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Apparently he had two obsessions, the Catcher in the Rye and Jodie Foster. He supposedly tried to murder Ronald Reagan to impress the latter obsession. The final murderer clearly obsessed with the Catcher in the Rye, was Robert John Bardo. He murdered Rebecca Schaeffer while confronting her at her house for losing her innocence in a sex scene in a movie. He had a copy of the book on him during this confrontation.
Overall, my feelings on the topic of censorship are mixed. The first amendment guarantees the right of freedom of expression certainly, but there should be a line crossed on what is allowed to be used as curriculum for school. As far as the case of The Catcher in the Rye goes, I think that it should certainly be allowed to be taught in school. It was a very influential and controversial piece of its time, and is worth discussing in the classroom. However I don’t feel that rule can be applied to all things. The film Hostel was shocking and took horror films to another level, but do I want that shown in Film as Literature classes across the country? Absolutely not. Yet any restrictions or bans on forms of expression violate the First Amendment. There’s a fine line between what’s appropriate for the classroom and what’s not. So that leaves me with the question, how do we protect that line from being crossed without violating the Constitution that is the very foundation of our country?
