The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger One of America’s Most Banned Books

Other Banned Books http://www.ala.org/bbooks/NLW-Top10

Reasons Why It Is Banned Virginia Paterson wrote a critical review of author J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, describing protagonist Holden Caulfield as “contaminated by vulgarity, lust, lies, temptation, recklessness, and cynicism” (qtd. In Kallan 32). Over the decades, school districts around the country have banned the book from their schools because of its “underage drinking and smoking, profanity,” and other negative activities.

More Controversy Along the way Caulfield has become as entrenched in the American psyche as much as any fictional character. Mark David Chapman, the man who assassinated John Lennon, was found with a copy of the book at the time of his arrest and later explained that reason for the shooting could be found in the book's pages, intimating that Lennon’s phoniness motivated the assassination.