Teacher Name: Bridget Somerville
School Name: CAVA
Graded Assignment
Literary Analysis Final Draft
Type your name, the date, your teacher’s name, and your school name at the top of this page. Type or paste your draft into this document. Be sure that your draft is double-spaced and in 12 point Times New Roman font. Save the file as:
ENG304B_Honors_Project_Assignment_Name_FirstInitial_LastName.doc
Example: ENG304B_ Honors_Project_Essay_M_Smith.doc
(200 points)
Catcher in the Rye is one of the most taught and controversial novels in the United States, it was written by J.D. Salinger and published in 1951. The novel is about a young Holden Caulfield and his mischievous adventures after he leaves his boarding school before winter break. Throughout his adventures you learn that Holden Caulfield is a very young, rebellious, care-free and opinionated person. He greatly values his freedom and also has something to say about everybody and everything. “Why is ''The Catcher in the Rye'' still controversial, even now, in the twenty-first century, when sex and violence are served to us on a silver platter, and a remarkable piece like this is being banned from schools and libraries?” (J.D. - Salinger – Catcher in the Rye – Rebellion and Controversy). Even today people cannot figure out why Catcher in the Rye is being taught to high school students. The Novel was intended for mature audiences considering the novel contained many adult themes like smoking, swearing, and violence. Although the novel was originally written for adults the young, rebellious, and carefree attitude of Holden Caulfield was very relatable to young teens and the novel quickly appealed to the younger demographic. Holden decided to leave boarding school before winter break and wait until winter break started to go back home, this left the young sixteen year old to adventure the streets for a couple of days until break. “...opens with the sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield’s disillusioned departure from what may be the last in a series of schools that have failed to inspire, nurture, or support him, followed by a painful, sleep-deprived odyssey through the streets of New York City”( The Catcher in the Rye: The voice of Alienation). While out on his own the young Holden got into a lot of trouble and encountered a lot of new and old friends. Holden was not prepared to go out on his own at such a young age and should have stayed at Pencey The one thing that Holden was the most was rebellious. “...with the seventeen year old Caulfield, a young rebel flunking out of schools, smoking, cursing and swearing, without any life goals whatsoever” (J.D. Salinger - Catcher in the Rye – rebellion and controversy). Holden gets into everything that an average high school student should not, he starts by flunking out of not only Pencey but many other high schools and everything just seem to go downhill from there. One of Holden's biggest problems would have to be swearing, he is always swearing at someone or something. “I'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything” (Salinger 1). Holden was also a very bad student it's not because he wasn't smart or capable it was because he didn't apply himself and didn't always show up to classes. It was for these reasons that young Holden had been flunked out of so many schools. Throughout the novel Holden has a strong opinion about everything and everybody. ”Just about everyone Holden encounters, including his teachers, his classmates, his friends, and his fellow New Yorkers, is a “phony,” behaving in accordance with artificial conventions and disguising self-interest underneath a veneer of amiability”(The Catcher in the Rye: The voice of Alienation). Holden always has an opinion about everybody and everything even the people he is friends with. “I can just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs” (Salinger 20). Holden can
