Study Curve

Catcher in the Rye is a book about a character named Holden Caulfield who is presumably a high school student. He has many wild hallucinations, which were quite controversial for the times in which this book was written (1951). There are many fantasies, that turn out we find out in the end, to be in the imagination of this main character. The story is told however, as if these fantasies are a reality. It is interesting to find out in the end that they are not real and are told by a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Many a discussion was had, and continues to be had about the author's purpose for writing this book and the perspective he chose to for it's writing.

This book is controversial because it deals with, what might be fantasies young men of 16 may encounter and certainly topics that were not discussed at that time, and are even questionable about discussing in a public school setting today.