I remember hearing how The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) was banned from this school and that, but it was never on my reading list and I hadn’t gotten around it. Yesterday while returning another book I skimmed the classics shelves. To avoid a roundtrip home I figured I’d pick one and spend my morning reading in the library (tough life, I know). Rye seemed about the right length for a morning’s leisure so I started and finished about three hours later.
I know for the time it was written, it was quite a masterpiece. I don’t get the brouhaha though. Granted, I understand why some parents wouldn’t approve of their children reading it with the language and some of the subject matter, but in all honesty I believe that it’s nothing a Senior AP English student wouldn’t be able to handle and understand. I’m just not sure why it’s still on high school reading lists.
I’m obviously not an English teacher. I’ve never been good at finding the deeper meanings in classic novels and this was no exception. Is this book popular for the high school crowd because it’s about an unmotivated 16 year old breaking the rules? Someday I may have to be enlightened. At the moment though, having read it is enough for me.
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