Censorship for J.D. Salinger

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Censorship is an ongoing topic that is debated when it comes down to what books student should and should not be reading in school. The book “Catcher In The Rye” by J.D. Salinger is one of the most controversial books because of the content that is said in the book. Sex, alcohol, drugs, and profane language are what is mentioned in the book. In my opinion, censorship should be in place so books like “Catcher In The Rye” are banned from schools so students are not able to read such books with that material.
By making students in school read books that contain topics such as sex, alcohol, drugs, and profane language, it will have some effect on the student. Having a student read material with those topics in them, will make the student think that it is okay to go out and have sex, drink alcohol, do drugs, or speak with profane language. The students will get the idea that that is what they should be doing and that is what other people are doing. If young students that are not mature enough yet, they may not have the maturity level to handle that kind of information. Censorship needs to be enforced so that students in today’s society will not be influenced by what they are reading in school.
There are some students and or parents that would take great offense to certain things that are being said or discussed about in books. In “Catcher In The Rye” profane language, such as “goddamn,” is used a tremendous amount of times. To certain people with certain religions or beliefs, would not agree with that and stop reading the book. As Holden says:
In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell o...

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...s of literature that has topics of sex, alcohol, drugs, and profane language in them. Those topics are what helped those books become classics. In high school, the teachers want their students to read the classics so they can get a better understanding of the writing style that was used then.
Censorship will always be a topic that can be debated especially when it comes to the books that are read in school. There are certain topics that should not be discussed or talked about in great detail in books that are being read in school. Even if the book is a classic piece of literature, like “Catcher In The Rye,” it needs to be censored. It is important to have censorship in place so students are not getting the wrong impression of sex, alcohol, drugs, and profane language.

Works Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951.

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