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Book club 101: J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, a banned book
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J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye was the first book my son's Banned Books Club read, an excellent book that initiated four summers of reading together. It was an obvious choice for a group of precocious, smart-aleck thirteen-year-olds. Everybody loved that discussion that ensued from the questions that follow, some because they identified with Holden Caulfield, some because that's "the kind of guy I always fall for," and at least one because he despised Caulfield as an "emo loser".
I think the variety of their responses and the fact that they felt free to react personally to the story and the characters, prepared them for the long haul, prepared them to read freely, with humor and intelligence, and always with a healthy dose of irreverence. Here are the background and discussion questions that got us going.
Why ban The Catcher in the Rye?
According to FBI profilers, this book is often found in the possession of serial killers. This book has been banned or challenged by people who object to its offensive language, disrespect for adult authority, sexually explicit and emotionally disturbing scenes, including molestation and mental illness.
What is a J.D. Salinger thing to say?
I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.
Who is this J. D. Salinger?
- Jerome David Salinger, born New York City, Jan. 1, 1919; parents were successful importers of Kosher cheese; lived in beautiful apartment on Park Avenue.
- Attended many prep schools, as well as Valley Forge Military Academy (1934-36) (not unlike Holden Caulfield’s school history).
- 1937 to 1938, studied at Ursinus College and New York University, graduating from neither.
- Fell in love with Oona O'Neill, daughter of Eugene O’Neill, writing each other daily letters; was shocked when she married much older actor, Charlie Chaplin.
- Drafted into the infantry in WWII and involved in Normandy invasion; fellow soldiers called him brave, a hero.
- In war-time Europe, wrote stories, met Ernest Hemingway and was hospitalized for stress.
- 1945, married French doctor Sylvia; later divorced.
- 1951 published Catcher in the Rye.
- 1955 married Claire Douglas, Radcliffe student and daughter of British art critic Robert Langston Douglas, insisting she drop out of college. Couple had children, Margaret and Mathew.
- Divorced again in 1967, retreating further into isolated world.
- 1972, age 53, had a year-long affair with 18-year old writer Joyce Maynard, asking her to drop out of Yale.
- Twenty five years later, Maynard put Salinger's letters to her up for auction, publicizing tell-all book, At Home in the World, about relationship with what she sees as an abusive older author.
- Salinger's third wife, Colleen O'Neill, is a nurse and quiltmaker.
- Catcher sells approximately 250,000 copies annually, with no author publicity, not even a photograph, in connection with book.
- To director Elia Kazan’s request to produce The Catcher in the Rye on Broadway, Salinger answered: “I cannot give my permission. I fear Holden wouldn't like it."
- Sean Connery’s character, Forrester, in the 2000 film Finding Forrester, was loosely based on Salinger.
What do you think about The Catcher in the Rye?
- What seems normal about Holden Caulfield? Why would that seem normal for a high school boy? What seems abnormal about Holden? Why do we see that as abnormal?
- What do you think about Holden’s view of adults? Does it match your view? Why or why not?
- Holden has a hard time "fitting in." Does this make him a good narrator? Why/why not? How does it affect you that your narrator remains outside his world? Does someone like Holden choose to be alienated, or does the world choose that for him?
- How does Holden feel about girls and about his relationship to them? Do you know anything about that?
- Why does Holden have a breakdown?
- At the end of the novel, Holden recognizes that you have to let the kids on the carousel reach for the gold ring. What does this mean?
- Why does Holden get the title poem (by Robert Burns) wrong –“If a body meet a body,” not “If a body catch a body.” Why does Salinger put that in the title? What is he implying about Holden?
- What other books, songs, films or characters do you know that seem somehow connected with The Catcher in the Rye, or with Holden Caulfield?
- Why is it that FBI profilers have identified carrying a copy of this book as part of a pattern that suggests a man is capable of serial crimes? Does Holden himself seem like someone on the brink of criminality? How do you interpret this?
- Why do you think this book ranks so high on the banned books list? What are some people worried will happen when teenagers read it?
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