Sooooooo, I hated Catcher in the Rye when I was forced to read in back in highschool. I hated it and it caused me to not like English lit class. I was told "reread it in 10 years, I think you'll actually appreciate it." Well 10 years later, I'm struggling to read the 2nd half, because it was worse than I remember.
Overview of what I don't like:
It should have ended halfway through with Holden killing himself, because this should be a tragedy
The book is self aware it's bad, with characters calling Holden out for sucking
Holden is a horrible person for a number of reasons, such as his raging sexism.
Not realizing Jane Galliger is being abused and only caring that she doesn't kiss him (even after her step-dad verbally abused her in front of him).
Miss interpreting the prostitute scene for not realizing the dramatic irony of the scene (in class we talked about "how Holden thinks he wants sex, but doesn't realize he doesn't," instead of the irony of being objectified in the same way he objectifies women thoughout the book)
Failing basic rules of a paper in English class, mainly good sentence structure and staying on topic (if I turned in a paper written like this, I would fail, because that happened).
Holden is not a roll model. He is in an asylum because he's messed up, and the book is up front about that.
Holden is a pedophile. He talks about Phoebe the same way as other girls he's hot on. How else am I supposed to read that?
The symbols are BS. The ducks are just awkward small talk, and the hunting hat is for practical reasons (wears it when it's cold, takes it off when hot).
It opens basically saying "you shouldn't be interested," it's a bad hook and bad opening.
It does students a great disservice to be forced to read this. Forcing students to read this actively harms them. I didn't go over everything I hate about Catcher in this video (for example, I glanced over the idiotic "religious commentary"). I just needed to get something out there so I could continue on.
