I read
The Catcher in the Rye in high school, and thought it interesting. Not great, mind you, but interesting nevertheless.
I knew it was one of the most frequently banned books, then, long before it was one of The Most Frequently Banned Books in the 1990s--it has quite a venerable history.
But the question on my mind, was always Why?
I remember asking my English teacher, he had a difficult time with this, and the only thing he could come up with, was that Holden Caulfield was alienated, among other things.
I thought that was curious, because I was. In fact, it seemed to me many of my peers were alienated as well.
Which brings an interesting thought to mind: The right may want to ban this book because it presents the image of something they do not want in their young, but it is. And if those young who are, might find some control of their alienated lives if they could see themselves, as they are, in fiction, a kind of externalization.
Isn't this one of the time-honored purposes of literature and art?
But the right will have none of this--and thereby perpetuate the very things they deplore.
An irony only those on the left can appreciate.