First Draft of Argument Essay

            Throughout America books are being banned and stripped from our school libraries preventing kids, teens, and in some cases adults from reading what they want. One of the many books that is high up on the banning book list is “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. Although “The Catcher in the Rye” has been challenged many times, I believe that access to this book should not be limited because of the important message it delivers and because it is unfair and banning books unconstitutional.

            One reason “The Catcher in the Rye” should not be banned is because of the important lesson it teaches. The lesson and the meaning of this book is a very universal lesson that can be applied to any kid. The lesson Salinger gives is that if one does not work hard enough in school, then their future will end up being awful. The whole book is about the protagonist, Holden, living a life out on the streets with no where to go and no one to help him after getting kicked out of school because he failed in four subjects. As said in his words: “They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all.”(Salinger 6). He was also too scared to tell his parents so he decided to try and wait until the end of the school year. Although he “couldn’t” tell his parents about what happened he did need someone to help him out morally, an example is: “I thought of maybe hanging up if my parents answered, but that wouldn’t have worked, either.”(Salinger 87). In this scene he was thinking of calling his little sister Phoebe for some comfort but he decided to not take the chance of being caught by his parents.

            Another reason this book should not be banned is because it is unfair to people who want to read it and because banning books is unconstitutional. As said from the article Eve Samples: Martin County mom trying to get 'Catcher in the Rye' banned from classes: “It would not be right, however, for the school district to ban it [The Catcher in the Rye] from English classes simply because it does not mesh with her values.”(Samples). This is an article about a mom who wants to ban “The Catcher in the Rye” mostly because it takes the lords name in vain. The point, however, is that it is unfair to restrict others from reading a book just because it does not meet someone else’s book appropriateness. In addition, banning books is unconstitutional because it breaks the rule of the first amendment in freedom of speech, meaning that taking away someone else’s words is taking away freedom of expressing themselves however they want.

            The other side of the argument claims that “The Catcher in the Rye” should be banned because it inappropriate for kids and teens because it includes prostitution and underage drinking. For example in this scene Holden asks for a prostitute in his room:     “ ‘Okay. I’ll send a girl up in about fifteen minutes.’ He opened the doors and I got out. ‘Hey, is she good looking?’ I asked him. ‘I don’t want any old bag’.”(Salinger 119). This is not a valid point, though, because these are real life problems that many adolescents come across in their life and it is right for younger people to know about and know the effects of this. Also, this book brings up another deep feeling problem; Holden had a younger brother named Allie who, as said near the start of this book, died a while back because of leukemia. I believe that this is a problem Holden faces every day and that it is the cause of some of the issues he has in his life. As said in the article The real message of 'The Catcher in the Rye': “Throughout the story, Holden tells us it's all about Allie… For me, that is the thread that links all of Holden's good and bad choices together, that is the layer we must reach to really understand this story, and that is what we adults can look to in order to really recognize the weight and beauty of Salinger's book.”(Kahane). This shows how hard life is for him and how this affects him a lot in his action.

            The writers main purpose of this book is to show how hard/depressing life is for some kids who have lost someone in their lives and how important it is to keep up hard work in school and to have your loves close to you in times of trouble. Salinger really wants to emphasize how hard life is for many adolescents by bringing the reader into the shoes of an adolescent who has big problems of his own. The best thing to do is to just keep pushing forward fight through all the hard and painful times because out there is a great future awaiting every single on of us.