Cather in the Rye :: essays research papers

The Catcher and the Rye is a very controversial book even today. Many schools and libraries across the pastoral have banned this book for various reasons. This paper will explore some of these reasons why this book is still causing debates among educators. To first visualise why this book has caused so many debates we have to look at the time it was written in, the 1950s. In the 1950s the world was reasonable recovering from the devastations of World War II, which ended five years ago. The United States emerged as a Super Power, the wealthiest nation and the American way of life envied end-to-end the Western world. This was a time when people were friendlier, more caring, and honest. People were not afraid to leave their homes without locking their doors. Neighbors were always there to help you for some(prenominal) reason and, families were close knit. They would have dinner each night, watch video, and do activities together. Children in this time were brought up to respect their olds, conform, and behave according to the their elders values. Most of them did so, although a growing spirit of rebellion and a new assertiveness of ideas and styles soon developed. The term teenager became widely used. Teenagers open up their own taste in music and fashion. Girls were most likely put in wearing clothes like people that they saw on television and the movies. Music had also changed. Teenagers were very fond of a new compositors case of music known as Rock And Roll. Bill Haley and his band was just one group that caused a stir among the elders as to what was respectable, and banned Haleys movie as well as his record from jukeboxes. This was the first banknote that elders took to save the children, from destroying their values. However, the media with magazines, radio, television and the movies fueled the ideas of being a teenager. One favourite song of this time was All Shook Up by social disease Presley that seems to symbolize this time in history. (S tacy & Finkelstein)One author J.D. Salinger wrote his first fresh during this time and added to the controversy by his writing style. Salinger chose to write his novel in the first person, told by a seventeen year old male child named Holden Claudfield. Throughout the novel, Holden uses foul language, discussed sexual matter, and rejects the traditional American ideas.