NEWS: 'Catcher in the Rye' is Censored for the One-Millionth Time

CULTURE: 'Catcher in the Rye' is Censored for the One-Millionth Time

Once again, forces of ignorance have conspired to mount an offensive against Catcher in the Rye. This time, the battle takes place in Portland, Maine. Andrea Minnon found out that the Salinger novel was on a high school freshman reading list. She went to the internet, read the Sparknotes, and decided, without reading the book, that the entire freshman class shouldn’t have to read it either.

It’s currently before the school board, parents are upset, there’s a town hall meeting…pretty much the typical Footloose-Field-of-Dreams-Donnie-Darko-parental-rights-holier-than-thou bullshit.

And look how it worked out for Holden Caulfield.

I only hope that the entire freshman class reads Catcher in the Rye now that it's forbidden, considered dirty, and will become a whole new generation's subversive (and favorite) literature.

Seriously, did Salinger come out of his house, see his shadow, and now there's ten more years of assholes burning books?

Yeah, reading a book about the loss of innocence is in appropiate for kids right around the age where they'd be experiencing their own loss of innocence. Smart move to ban it. And while you are at it why not burn all his cds. I'm sure that your children will grow up completely well adjusted then.

if the news story is about the kid's mum, why did they print a photo of his dad

No, Eddie Izzard, why are you doing this?

There isn't a thing in that book that your averge 14 year old hasn't been exposed to from TV a million times already. What a wanker.

why can these people grow a pair and actually burn the fucking books...at least then there is no confusion.

So she's not trying to ban it from the library or prevent it from being taught ever, right? Fucking deal. Pick a new book.

Actually, the school board ruled against the parents two or three days ago.

i love that book...

I agree. She's even quoted in the article saying that she probably would not have a problem were her son a junior or senior rather than a freshman-a right I think she's entitled to. Hell, I didn't read that till I was a junior I think, and for students to look at the novel the way one should, I think she might actually be right...

She didn't start picketing, she didn't lose it, she's not some nut invoking the Bible-she started civilized discourse about when it should be taught and hasn't tried (despite the misleading title of this news story) to have it censored or banned outright. She's even reading it herself now. So I have to ask: isn't the the very model of how concerned parents should act in such a situation?

[Edited on Dec 24, 2004 9:47AM]

Well, it's fine if she's not sure her kid should be reading it. It's not so fine if she decides his peers also shouldn't be. Although I must say that if I were those freshmen, I'd be breathing a sigh of relief. LOATHED that book. So aimless, pointless, redundant. Holden's not going through anything most of us haven't been, less even. And there's no fricking plot.

Maybe we should just have all the kids read Sesame Street books in English class then.

I'm not exactly defending it, because I don't think it's the end-all, be-all of books, but this really is the point of the book. Holden isn't a writer and so does not know how to separate the important things from the unimportant, which results in a lot of repetition and otherwise pointless passages. His life is aimless and pointless, and yes, all of us have been there. At the time especially, it was pretty revolutionary to do that with a book. I'm not going to go so far as to say that that makes it a good book, because that is a judgment call. But all of the things you mentioned are intentional.

How about Catch Her in the Rear?

While this woman sounds a little sheltered and freakish -- does she really think kids younger than 14 don't do and talk about things much worse than in that novel? -- and while I'm glad the principal of the HS is not caving into pressure, the problem is that all of those kids will want to read that whiney piece of crap. I mean that book just plain sucked. Salinger is great for younger audiences but why not Franny and Zooey? Nine Stories? Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour? In this battle, there can be no true winner.

If it were not for that book and my sister who gave it to me my freshmen year; I would never have escaped the months of enui I experienced in Paris.

That lady's kid is going to smoke a lot of crack one day. Probably as soon as he moves away.

further proof noone learns anything... except the SG community

she should really be a better example... I mean reading the Sparknotes before the book, like she can keep a thought longer than three pages! She's the fucking bad influence on people who don't read.

seriously, people like that SHOULD BE CENSORED WITH A GOOD STEEL BOOT.

heh heh - best post of the thread!

...except you spelled ennui wrong.

[Edited on Dec 24, 2004 by googuse]

This is the opening sentence of a new movie by Wes Anderson. I just know it.

I read 'The Exorcist' when I was 11 and I'm a well-adjusted, thoughtful person...um...hmmm...now that I think about it...nevermind.

"if it weren't for my horse, i never would have spent that year in college"

she's not advocating a book burning or complete banishment of the book, so she isn't a nazi. let's save the real criticism for the real nazi's.

what it seems she's doing is expressing her opinion and trying to rally others around that opinion -- to change the age level at which Catcher is appropriate to be introduced as part of the curriculum (IMHO, the book should be available to any student in the library though).

i kind of agree, that book should be introduced to junior/senior level kids -- but for a completely different reason. when i was 14, i couldn't appreciate Catcher -- it was just another book i had to read. i was more interested in playing Nintendo. but by the time i was a Senior, the book made a lot more sense and i could identify with it and appreciate it more.

as far as the elements: prostitution -- i went to a christian elementary school, and i heard of mary magdalene the prostitute when i was in the 4th grade. drinking -- my father was an alcoholic, so i didn't need a book to corrupt my little mind. profanity -- give me a fucking break! listen to 14 years olds talk. they already know the words. using girls for pleasure -- in a book, that's subtext to a 14 year old. depression -- a part of life.

The thing that always confused me about the people getting upset because there's a prostitute in the story is...that...Holden just talks with her. They don't -do- anything. She's...she's just a lady. All that really happens is him getting the shit kicked out of him a bit later... Or maybe that was his plan all along! Holden, you dirty, dirty masochist. For shame.

Holden is a whinny bitch.

simple as that. Kids shouldn't be indentifying with a character like that. I sure as hell didn't idenify with him when i read the book in high school. His problems are so lightweight (what, he's failing out of a private school because he's not trying? oh woe is he) that it's an insult to expect kids to feel sympathy for him.

edit: maybe it is good for kids to read this book. whenever i think about sitting around and bitching about my life, i think of holden and what a little bitch he is, and how i don't want to be like that.

[Edited on Dec 24, 2004 by randomcharacters]