Why Is The Catcher In The Rye Bad

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JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye was published on July 16th, 1951, and remains considered as one of the most controversial books published by an American author due to its abundance of profanity, bleakness, and violent content. A huge burden of society in 1951 involved conforming to societal norms of being proper and non-vulgar; The Catcher in the Rye stands out to most other novels published or written in its era. Enter Holden Caulfield, who embodies teenage angst and disrespect. His behavior and opinions destroy every chance Holden has at living a healthy lifestyle. Holden believes non-authenticity ruins society, children embody humanities purest form, and adulthood inherently corrupts this childish purity. To reiterate, Holden carries a plethora of opinions, especially for a teenager in the early 1950’s. He absolutely despises phoniness. This becomes …show more content…
At a glance this causes Holden to be depicted in a relatively stereotypical fashion, being written in as yet another condescending rich kid. His parents have the money to put him through 3 different private schools after flunking out of the one beforehand, so he most absolutely has a large amount of wealth in his family. As a matter of fact, Holden clearly asserts he looks down upon those without wealth. But the true justification becomes something much more harmful than mere ignorance. Holden’s hyper-awareness to status and wealth, which continues to be seen throughout every page in the novel, results in overall resentment of adults and entrenchment in his idolization of children. He does so because he feels wealth is what makes society’s adults corrupt. Therefore, Holden’s ideal society would continue the lack of self-obtained status in favor of remaining a child for his entire life, even after growing old. Holden yet again distances himself from reality, which inherently harms himself and those around
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