Why Is The Catcher In The Rye Banned

The banning of books has long since been a tradition for the censorship of the media, and no book has seen the red tape more than J. D. Salinger’s picaresque novel The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger’s Catcher examines Holden Caulfield, an emotionally conflicted teenager takes New York City after leaving his prestigious school to find his way back home. Upon the opening of the novel, Holden explores controversial slang, curses, and sensitive topics. The language of the novel, which includes but is not limited to, curse words, coarse language, and slang all are a major factor people often have for disputing Catcher. Holden often uses common curses from “hell” (234, 4, 74, 173), to the shortened “damn” (72) from “goddam” (234, 97, 185), as well

Whether it be Maurice beating him up, to the teachers that always want something from him, or Mr. Antolini, Holden creates an atmosphere where adults are all corrupt. Lastly, Holden wholeheartedly expresses his atheistic beliefs which goes against the common thread of religion. Holden reminds the reader that he is not religious and “[his] parents are different religions, and all of the children in [their] family are atheists. If you want to know the truth, [he] can’t even stand ministers...They sound so phony when they talk” (112). For many religious schools or town, this poses a threat to their mutual understanding with teenagers, who can make their own choices about religion. There have been numerous occasions where religion is one of the key reasons to ban the book. Catcher, however controversial, uses these disputes to talk about the real issues that schools and adults refuse. Catcher will always be considered controversial, from its language to adult and contentious themes, however Holden remains the constant, unadulterated voice of J. D. Salinger’s skepticism of the corrupt adult