1. The Catcher in the Rye
Introducing the novel

2. Warm-up
What are teenagers fed up with?

3. What’s the big deal? Published in 1951 J.D. Salinger’s first novel
J.D. Salinger’s last novel
Bold. Daring. Provocative. A unique style. A fresh voice.
The novel was an instant success.
Has sold 65 million copies since
Salinger disappeared from spotlight
No film version exists
Holden remains a cultural icon from 1950s America

4. Censorship
“In the 1970s, citizens across the country became even more vocal about removing Salinger’s novel from high school reading lists, charging that the book was ‘explicitly pornographic’ and ‘immoral,’ and contained ‘filthy and profane’ language that promoted ‘premarital sex, homosexuality and perversion.’ In 1972, Massachusetts parents claimed that no young person could read this ‘totally filthy, totally depraved and totally profane book’ book ‘without being scarred.’ It was banned in the high schools of Issaquah, Washington, in 1978 when a citizen found 785 profanities and charged that including the novel in the syllabus was ‘part of an overall communist plot.’”
Excerpted from J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye and Other Works

5. South Park clip

6. Dead Poets Society
The film is quite different from The Catcher in the Rye.
The setting is nearly identical.
Watch the opening 10 minutes
What is the director emphasizing?
What is life like for a prep school boy?
Take another look at the opening shot. What do you see?
How do these pressures compare and contrast with those that teenagers face today?

7. Dead Poets Society Imagine you lived in that world.
What would you be fed up with?

8. Focal Points Symbolism Theme Text-to-text comparisons
Contemporary Traits & Topics
Identification
Purpose & Effect
Impact
Of author’s life on the work
Of author’s work on the world

9. End of Unit Test Open book Open note
45 minutes to write responses to three questions.

10. End of Unit Test
1. Choose one of the following symbols from The Catcher in the Rye and explain how Salinger uses it to communicate his theme(s) to the reader. Cite evidence from the text to support your answer.
2. Read the passage from a different work by J.D. Salinger. Write an explanation of how the concepts presented in the passage relate back to J.D. Salinger’s views and / or life.
3. Select one of the following contemporary traits / topics present in The Catcher in the Rye. Explain how the trait/topic is present in the novel, and analyze the purpose and effect of the trait/topic.

11. Unit Guides Intended to guide you toward success in this unit.
Work as we go—don’t wait for the night before it’s due!
You can use the Unit Guide on the quizzes and on the test

12. Reading Questions
Ch. 1
Ch. 2