TCRP2G2

**Controversy over** //**The Catcher in the Rye**//
 * con⋅tro⋅ver⋅sy **


 * 1. || a prolonged public dispute, debate, or contention; disputation concerning a matter of opinion. ||


 * 2. || contention, strife, or argument. ||

 In 1960 a teacher was fired for assigning the novel in class. He was later reinstated between 1961 and 1982, //The Catcher in the Rye// was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States. [|[25]] In 1981, it was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States. [|[26]] According to the [|American Library Association], //The Catcher in the Rye// was the tenth most frequently challenged book from 1990–1999. [|[6]] It was one of the ten most challenged books in 2005, and has been off the list since 2006. [|[27]] The challenges generally begin with vulgar language, citing the novel's use of words like " [|fuck] " [|[28]] and " [|goddam] ", [|[29]] with more general reasons including sexual references, [|[30]] blasphemy, undermining of family values [|[29]] and moral codes, [|[31]] Holden's being a poor role model, [|[32]] encouragement of rebellion, [|[33]] and promotion of drinking, [|smoking], lying, and [|promiscuity]. [|[31]] Often, the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself. [|[25]] Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced objections after assigning the novel in her class, noted that the challengers "are being just like Holden ... They are trying to be catchers in the rye." [|[29]] A reverse effect has been that this incident caused people to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, when there were none before. [|[34]] [|Mark David Chapman] 's shooting of [|John Lennon], [|John Hinckley, Jr.] 's [|assassination attempt] on [|Ronald Reagan] , [|Robert John Bardo] 's shooting of [|Rebecca Schaeffer] and other murders have also been [|associated] with the novel. [|[35]] [|[36]] In 2009, Salinger successfully sued to stop the U.S. publication of a novel that presents Holden Caulfield as an old man. [|[23]][|[37]] The novel's author, [|Fredrik Colting], commented, "call me an ignorant Swede, but the last thing I thought possible in the U.S. was that you banned books". [|[38]] The issue is complicated by the nature of Colting's book, //60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye//, which has been compared to [|fan fiction] .[39] Although commonly not authorized by writers, no legal action is usually taken[// [|citation needed] //] against fan fiction since it is rarely published commercially and thus involves no profit. Colting, however, has published his book commercially. Unauthorized fan fiction on //The Catcher in the Rye// has existed on the Internet for years without any legal action taken by Salinger. [|[39]] // The Catcher in the Rye // has been shrouded in // controversy // since its publication. Reasons for banning have been the use of // offensive // // language //, // premarital sex // , // alcohol abuse // , and // prostitution //. According to some extremist theories the book is an // FBI // or // CIA // tool for // mind control //. In 1960, school administrators at a high school in Tulsa, Okla., fired an English teacher for assigning the book to an 11th grade class. While the teacher later won his appeal, the book remained off the required reading list.