The Catcher In The Rye

John Sampson

Period 2

DC English

Mr. Knodel

            This narrative is a great piece of written work that is debated over for its profane language, violence, and many other situations or habits. This essay will tell you my point of view when it comes the allowance of students to read and study this book in school. There will be three claims I will give to back up my argument. One will be on the profanity, another on drugs and alcohol, and the last on the main character Holden Caulfield.

            My first claim is on the amount of profanity that is used in this narrative. I admit that it is overly used, but what can someone honestly do about profanity in real life. Everyone at one point or another has used profane language. There is no doubt in my mind that this is true, and at the age at which students are studying this narrative they should be mature enough to handle profanity and its usage. That is why when one is a senior in high school, that it should be okay for one to read this particular narrative.

            My second claim is over the usage of drugs and alcohol in this narrative. Every where Holden goes in this narrative he is smoking or drinking, but also where ever you look in real life you will see billboards, magazines, or TV ads with alcohol or smoking products. Face it, these two things will always be a big issue when in comes to having students read or learn more about it. They learn more about these two things from TV, magazines, and billboards then they do it school.

            My third and final claim will be on the character Holden Caulfield. This character can be very controversial because of his behavior, habits, thoughts, and language. Even though Holden can be a scary judge of talent at some point, he will always be a part of us in some way. All of us can say that at one point we were like him in some way, no matter how little we were like him. So in a way this is just a reminder that this type of behavior is normal to an extent. Even though Holden ends up in an Asylum in the end, he did act as a normal teenager for a period of time. After awhile the pressure and built up anger just got to him and he did end up in a bad situation.

            Like the Shanley Mission says, “To teach the total person…” this narrative can help us grow into that total person that Christ wants us to be, no matter how he intends for us to end up. I gave you my three claims – profane language, drugs and alcohol, and Holden Caulfield – and evidence to back it up. I believe that reading this narrative should be allowed in Shanley High School.