Ever since its publication in 1951 J.D.Salinger's Catcher in the rye has served as a firestorm for controversy and debate why is this and is the books reputation still deserved?

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Tim Bassett

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Ever since its publication in 1951 J.D.Salinger’s Catcher in the rye has served as a firestorm for controversy and debate why is this and is the books reputation still deserved?

 

Catcher in the rye has for over 50 years become one of the most talked about books that has received a cult following from teenagers and adults who feel disgruntled with society. The books success is not just owed to the style it was written in but almost as much to the context of the world around when it was released in 1951, the underlying tones in the book which are central to Holden un-American views of his mother country and its consumer society. The book has gained a reputation as being controversial due to Holdens rebellious nature towards the American society although its not as controversial today.

 

The world at this time was becoming increasingly easy to split between the East and West and with this divide also came conflicting political systems. The West believed in capitalism, with the largest country being the USA. Capitalism promotes a consumerist society where freedom to chose is of the foremost importance. This means freedom to buy what goods you wanted and to be able to live the American dream where through hard work you could “ make a million “. The danger of this is people start to measure their lives by what they own rather than what they have in terms of happiness. Capitalism also causes people to always want the new washing machine or upgraded version of their car stopping those who are materialistic from ever being content with what they have.

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 Communism on the other hand is where a nation works together for the good of their country as a whole, everyone is seen as an equal. This equality is taken to extremes with all of the people having their clothes, possessions and even their cars regulated and provided by the government. The largest country to do this was the old USSR (Russia).

These two systems led to the cold war; there wasn’t a full-scale war but a period of East vs. West competition that led to McCarthyism in the USA, a political witch-hunt for politicians who had communist ...

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