...4141- 4141--- Cherished and Cursed:Towarda Social History of The Catcher in the Rye STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD THE plot is brief:in 1949 or perhaps 1950, over the course of three days during the Christmas season, a sixteen-yearold takes a picaresque journey to his New YorkCity home from the third private school to expel him. The narratorrecounts his experiences and opinions from a sanitarium in California. A heavy smoker, Holden Caulfield claims to be already six feet, two inches tall and to have wisps of grey hair; and he wonders what happens to the ducks when the ponds freeze in winter. The novel was published on 16 July 1951, sold for $3.00, and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Within two weeks, it had been reprinted five times, the next month three more times-though by the third edition the jacket photographof the author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version...
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...However, in recent years, libraries have banned countless works because of their apparent “offensive” nature. One prime example of this is the novel “Catcher in the Rye” which caused a great uproar upon publication because of its “gross” aspects. But today, people describe it as a captivating novel that captures the minds of the American youth and teaches a great lesson on self-awareness. These different challenges and forms of censorship have aimed at limiting conflict. However, in recent years, these restrictions have sparked great amounts of dispute because prohibited materials forces people to bite their tongues. Needless to say, attempts to promote censorship have stifled free speech and limited intellectual discourse amongst individuals. Censoring different forms of media limits discussions and narrows academic exposure because people are deprived of information that may enrich their knowledge...
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...Prophet Mohammed while simultaneously being extremely offended by a similar depiction of Jesus Christ. Even things that are generally considered to be universally offensive such as racism and sexism might be acceptable within certain niche groups of people. Many people call for the censorship of things that they deem to be offensive, completely forgetting that if the billions of other people on the planet were able to censor art they found offensive, there would be no art left to censor. A person calling for a piece of art to be censored is inherently self-centered. They believe that they should be the one to decide what is and is not offensive, completely opinions and feelings of others. They do not care if they deprive someone else of what might be a great experience. There was a point in time during which controversial books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger were banned in schools across the United States. These books have inspired countless people all over the world, yet because one or a select few individuals found them to be offensive, many students were deprived of the opportunity to read these...
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...children and their potential to expand their horizons. I firmly believe everyone has the right to be exposed to knowledge. By limiting the literature that a young mind is exposed to limits the ability to understand and become open minded. On that note I understand that some books should not be hand to children until they have the mental capacity to comprehend the language and the meaning behind some books as not to see these books as simple stories or to be taken literally. I understand that people have reasons for their censors but it does not mean they are always right. There are four motivational factors that may lie behind a censor’s actions. Those factors are family values, religion, political views, and minority rights. On the basis of family values, the censor is usually threatened by changes in accepted traditional ways of life. They view sexual works as deviations from the norm and want to protect their children from the negative effects of sexual behavior. Censorship based on religion views sexual works as attacks on the religious faith itself. Also, anti-religious works are damaging to the religious beliefs. Themes that are viewed as communistic, un-American, or ungodly would be censored based on their changes in the political...
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...businesses, and can make governments more powerful than they should be. In 1776, the American Colonies broke away from England with signing of the Declaration of Independence, which states that all people are equal and are born with rights that cannot be taken away. These rights are stated in The Constitution. The first of the amendments to The Constitution “forbids Congress from enacting any laws that would regulate speech or press before publication or punish after publication” (Censorship par. 25). Even though this is stated as a law in the United States, it is not in some other countries, primarily dictatorships. Whether it is a law or not, governments and other organizations finds ways to censor material. Works of fiction have been a victim of censorship for hundreds of years. For example, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is noted as one of the best books in American Literature. It came under attack in the mid-20th century with claims of racism. Publishing companies decided to fix this problem by replacing the many uses of the n-word with the word slave. The author’s words are chosen carefully and the use of the n-word is this work is a “historical indication of how African Americans were treated and thought of in the 19th century” (Editing par. 5). Other famous books were censored and sometimes even banned for their content. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye are two famous novels that were banned in many parts of...
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...The year is 1959, a pivotal moment in American cultural history, when rock and roll was giving birth to the Sexual Revolution and everything in America culture was about to be turned upside down. Record companies were releasing more than a hundred singles every week and the country was about to explode. Grease, generally considered a trivial little musical about The Fabulous Fifties, is really the story of America’s tumultuous crossing over from the 50s to the 60s, throwing over repression and tradition for freedom and adventure (and a generous helping of cultural chaos), a time when the styles and culture of the disengaged and disenfranchised became overpowering symbols of teenage power and autonomy. Originally a rowdy, dangerous, over-sexed, and insightful piece of alternative theatre, Grease was inspired by the rule-busting success of Hair and shows like it, rejecting the trappings of other Broadway musicals for a more authentic, more visceral, more radical theatre experience that revealed great cultural truths about America. An experience largely forgotten by most productions of the show today. Like Hair before it and The Rocky Horror Show which would come a year later, Grease is a show about repression versus freedom in American sexuality, about the clumsy, tentative, but clearly emerging sexual freedom of the late 1950s, seen through the lens of the middle of the Sexual Revolution in the 1970s. It’s about the near carnal passion 1950s teenagers felt for their rock...
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...The (un)Official United States History Cram Packet This is not intended as a substitute for regular study ……. But it is a powerful tool for review. 1494: Treaty of Tordesillas – divides world between Portugal and Spain 1497: John Cabot lands in North America. 1513: Ponce de Leon claims Florida for Spain. 1524: Verrazano explores North American Coast. 1539-1542: Hernando de Soto explores the Mississippi River Valley. 1540-1542: Coronado explores what will be the Southwestern United States. 1565: Spanish found the city of St. Augustine in Florida. 1579: Sir Francis Drake explores the coast of California. 1584 – 1587: Roanoke – the lost colony 1607: British establish Jamestown Colony – bad land, malaria, rich men, no gold - Headright System – land for population – people spread out 1608: French establish colony at Quebec. 1609: United Provinces establish claims in North America. 1614: Tobacco cultivation introduced in Virginia. – by Rolfe 1619: First African slaves brought to British America. 15. Virginia begins representative assembly – House of Burgesses 1620: Plymouth Colony is founded. - Mayflower Compact signed – agreed rule by majority • 1624 – New York founded by Dutch 1629: Mass. Bay founded – “City Upon a Hill” - Gov. Winthrop - Bi-cameral legislature, schools 1630: The Puritan Migration 1632: Maryland – for profit – proprietorship 1634 – Roger Williams banished from Mass. Bay Colony 1635:...
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...62118 0/nm 1/n1 2/nm 3/nm 4/nm 5/nm 6/nm 7/nm 8/nm 9/nm 1990s 0th/pt 1st/p 1th/tc 2nd/p 2th/tc 3rd/p 3th/tc 4th/pt 5th/pt 6th/pt 7th/pt 8th/pt 9th/pt 0s/pt a A AA AAA Aachen/M aardvark/SM Aaren/M Aarhus/M Aarika/M Aaron/M AB aback abacus/SM abaft Abagael/M Abagail/M abalone/SM abandoner/M abandon/LGDRS abandonment/SM abase/LGDSR abasement/S abaser/M abashed/UY abashment/MS abash/SDLG abate/DSRLG abated/U abatement/MS abater/M abattoir/SM Abba/M Abbe/M abbé/S abbess/SM Abbey/M abbey/MS Abbie/M Abbi/M Abbot/M abbot/MS Abbott/M abbr abbrev abbreviated/UA abbreviates/A abbreviate/XDSNG abbreviating/A abbreviation/M Abbye/M Abby/M ABC/M Abdel/M abdicate/NGDSX abdication/M abdomen/SM abdominal/YS abduct/DGS abduction/SM abductor/SM Abdul/M ab/DY abeam Abelard/M Abel/M Abelson/M Abe/M Aberdeen/M Abernathy/M aberrant/YS aberrational aberration/SM abet/S abetted abetting abettor/SM Abeu/M abeyance/MS abeyant Abey/M abhorred abhorrence/MS abhorrent/Y abhorrer/M abhorring abhor/S abidance/MS abide/JGSR abider/M abiding/Y Abidjan/M Abie/M Abigael/M Abigail/M Abigale/M Abilene/M ability/IMES abjection/MS abjectness/SM abject/SGPDY abjuration/SM abjuratory abjurer/M abjure/ZGSRD ablate/VGNSDX ablation/M ablative/SY ablaze abler/E ables/E ablest able/U abloom ablution/MS Ab/M ABM/S abnegate/NGSDX abnegation/M Abner/M abnormality/SM abnormal/SY aboard ...
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