Brother or Betrayer?

-the Kite Runner

I have spent half a month reading The Kite Runner, on the bestseller list as a paperback for 101 weeks. It is the first novel by Khaled Hosseini, who is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. After graduating from college, he worked as a doctor in California. He has published three novels, most notably his 2003 debut The Kite Runner, all of which are at least partially set in Afghanistan and feature an Afghan as the protagonist. Following the success of The Kite Runner, he decided to stop practicing medicine and became a full-time writer.

It tells a story between two boys. A rich boy Amir at the age of 12 and his servant Hasan are brotherly loved. Nevertheless, after a kite game, something miserable happens. Amir feels grievous and guilty for his cowardice and he cannot confront Hassan, using something contemptible to let Hassan and his father leave his home. Not long, Afghanistan breaks out a war, Amir and his father have to flee to America. After his grown-up, he cannot forgive what he had done to Hassan before. And to atone for himself, he returns his hometown, which is destroyed badly by the war. When he comes back, he is astonished by the information that Hassan is his brother and he and his wife have already died. Rahim requests him to rescue Sohrab, the son of Hassan. This time he fights for Sohrab and finally get Sohrab back and takes him to America. Because of many unexpected matters, Sohrab becomes silent and never smiled. Amir regards him as his own son and does everything for him.

There are two conflicts roles in this novel, Amir and Hassan, Amir’s father and Ali. The relationship between Amir’s father and Ali is of great similarity with that of Amir and Hassan. Amir’s father is brother and betrayer for Ali while Amir is the same for Hassan. Ali was adopted by Amir’s grandfather the year Amir’s father was born. Naturally, the two boys become childhood playmates just like Amir and Hassan. Amir and Hassan are always told the mischief that his father and Ali used to play. Then after they grow up, Ali becomes the primary servant in the house, spending all his life on serving Amir’s father, until Amir betrays Hassan and they leave. By that time, they have been fully participated in each other’s life for more than forty years. They grow

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up together, have children at the same year, and then they watch their children grow up together. Even with all the racial and social status differences, they care about each other very much. Their relationship is far beyond that between a master and a servant. They are friends, life-mates, and brothers. That’s why when Ali asks to leave with Hassan, Amir’s father feels desperate. He keeps begging Ali to stay, tells him that he is the brother he never has, and he cried, which terrifies Amir because he has never seen his Baba cry for his whole life. From all these it can be seen that he really values his relationship with Ali, regarding his as a brother. Meanwhile, Amir has an intricate relationship with Hassan. He practically spends all his time together with Hassan in their childhood, doing all stuff with him that two best childhood friends would do, like fooling the neighbors, watching movies, playing chess etc. Amir specifically illustrates his special bond with Hassan: ‘Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name.’ Hassan has claimed his loyalty to Amir with that first word and with his exclusive line for Amir ‘For you, a thousand times over’. And through all his life, he has never gone back on his words. They are somewhat like brothers and biologically brothers.

However, there is no saint in the world. Everybody makes mistakes, so does Amir and his father. They all betray their brothers. There is no doubt that Amir’s father is a righteous man. He is not just a successful businessman; he also has a good heart and a sense of justice. However, such a man of justice has made a serious mistake, one that he cannot compensate with anything. He had sexual intercourse with Sanauber, the wife of his ‘brother’ Ali, and had a child with her. This mistake endows him another role, a role of detestable cheater. He has betrayed Ali like Amir betrays Hassan.

When Hassan is beaten severely and raped by Assef, Amir witnesses the act but is too scared to intervene. He chooses to betray Hassan. He knows that if he fails to bring home the kite, Baba would be less proud of him. He feels incredibly guilty but knows his cowardice would destroy any hopes for Baba's affections. Afterwards, Amir keeps

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distant from Hassan; his feelings of guilt prevent him from interacting with the boy. He plants a watch and some money under Hassan's mattress in hopes that Baba will make him leave; Hassan falsely confesses when confronted by Baba. Although Baba believes "there is no act more wretched than stealing", he forgives him. To Baba's sorrow, Hassan and Ali leave anyway. Amir totally betrays his brother.

Both of Amir and his father are tormented by their betrayal. They both feel guilty for what they have done to their brother. Even 20 years later when Amir and his father are in America, his father still aches for separating with them. At the same time, Amir chooses to stay away from Amir and have to lead a life with regret and suffered endless sleepless nights. The only difference between is that finally Amir faces his betrayal. His going back to Afghanistan is not only a journey physically but a journey to atonement. Hassan’s son, his nephew saved, Amir’s sin was finally washed. Like the life of circle, Amir ran kite for his miserable nephew. As Hassan did to him, he said “for you, a thousand times over” to Sohrab. Though the book doesn’t give us an accurate ending whether Sohrab came into life again. I am sure love can cure everything. Only when Sohrab lives a happy life as Hassan hoped can Amir’s sin washed up.

When I finish reading this book, I also watched the movie. It’s a good movie, but the book is far more majestic than the movie. You will be touched many times just like I do if you read this novel.

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第二篇：The Kite Runner读后感

The Kite Runner

如果要以高二运动会那天读了这本书算起，这篇书评来得太晚太晚了。

并且我最终没有想出一个合适的标题，只能以原本的英文标题凑数。毕竟在我而言始终不具有能够一语囊括这本书的言辞，一个关于追风筝的人们的青春和生命的故事，一个关于追风筝的民族兴衰与执着的故事，终究只能是寥寥三个单词。The Kite Runner。

现在想来，读这一路欧美畅销书的习惯，还是从《追风筝的人》开始的。当初感受之切，至今记忆犹新。在尚拥有大把年华的时候开始阅读，却始终不知自己长久以来的无所作为已经是对光辉岁月某种不入流的否定，直到两年后在日渐奔波的同时，灵魂逐渐萧索下去，方知当年阅读的感觉真的很好，才零碎地拾起些片段，以一种近乎吃老本的心态来攀附一些花哨而无力的文字，忽然甚觉愧对被这样的自己评头论足的作品。

无论青春这个字眼在如今被妖魔化到了怎样的程度，我都始终认为，在《追风筝的人》里是可以看到所谓青春的。这也是我这个已经逐渐僵硬，渴望被重新唤醒的废柴把它当作稻草或是浮木那一类东西的原因。但《追风筝的人》并不是一个单纯叙述个人成长或是情感经历的故事，哈桑和阿米尔的故事萌发于他们灵魂诞生之时，至那些最美好真切的事物消失之时尚未终结。又或许那些东西从未终结过。

同时这又不是一本小资情调的书。至少我从来都觉得《追风筝的人》中最奇妙的，便是它分明展开了如此浩大而精致的文明真相，哈桑和阿米尔之间的情谊又深重地令人不忍以任何政治，战争甚至历史的名词去附会。

然后风在文明长久立于土地的经幡下鼓起，鲜红风筝向着火烧云的方向逐渐沉入地平线。那里横着剑一样的湮灭之光，上面腾起丰盛的爱与笑容，双手捧起心灵中沉重阴郁的影子，在濒死阳光的曝晒之下升华，飞走，消失。

如哈桑这样灵魂澄澈地不容任何辩驳的孩子，即使多么遥远也好，哪怕仅仅算作对自己的开解，我也相信他总存在在世界的某个角落，以一种真切的美好为芸芸众生提供盛大的安慰。而阿米尔又是如此有血有肉，他所经历的青春，以及所有与之有关的疼痛，挣扎和最终褪去青涩外壳，从而获得一种长久的姿态。毕竟他的生命因国际政治舞台的风雨而被打上了起伏而充满颠簸痛楚的烙印，却又拥有与寻常少年无异的内核。他的软弱始终不让人有厌恶之感，仅仅因为那不过是年轻无知，带有一种深切而单纯的悲凉意味。

青春这样的东西，终究因为它烙在我们身上长久而微妙的印记，而变得绚丽而模糊不清。

从童年开始叙述总是一个经久不衰的方式，幼时建立的情感拥有跨越种族，国家和其他一切文明沟谷的力量，我坚信这一点。哈桑和阿米尔的情谊要用如此苍白的言辞来形容太过无力，我所能看见的不过是大片酡红天空，孩子自由奔跑的姿态四肢舒展，背向暮阳，那种光辉足以刺伤眼睛，落下泪来。

而人类之间的情感放入政权更替与民族兴衰的背景里，也总是显地格外风雨飘摇而又异常坚韧切肤。我想我有理由相信，哈桑对于阿米尔的感情是存有某种农耕民族的深沉印记的。《追风筝的人》打开了一扇窗，那里映出一个传统而内心丰腴的内陆农业国在当下世界大潮中一

种颇有颓废贵族之感的文明质地来。这是冷战中的阿富汗，是战争中的阿富汗，是战后政权更迭不断的阿富汗。暴力制约暴力，仇恨引发仇恨。但我只是看到了阿富汗人沉默地背起历史，行走在崎岖蜿蜒的山路上，那条路看不到尽头，刻进山川里去，一如那些老人脸上的皱纹一样，平静地包容着滔天的苦难。

胡塞尼把握人类心灵的手法很巧妙，在主人公内心不断的陈述中，内部的灵魂到外部的文明均展示地恰中红心。在这样的文字下，一个满目疮痍而固执地把持着自我的民族或国家，很难不让人感慨万千。纵然那些感慨大多无关实际行动，却能给予人莫大的宽慰。

因为我们可以看到大片鲜艳卓绝的青葱草原在阳光下自由舒展，一望无垠，空气中充斥着镀上阳光的金色颗粒，火烧云慷慨地垂下。卖馕饼的小贩唱着古老的民谣，吆喝声越来越远，逐渐遁入历史。穿着笔挺的少年与光着脚的少年并肩奔跑，向着阳光展开他们生命的全部内核，风筝缓慢地在橙色的空气里漂浮，断线，然后沉默下去，飘向远方，载着灵魂，最终停驻在得以救赎的角落。少年咧开嘴笑着，背后的世界里风声鹤唳。

阿米尔说，他相信自己身上被下了一个咒语，主宰着他之后生活的全部轨迹。我想，那果真是一个咒语，一个关于恶行通过善行而被拯救，通向爱与完成的轮回。它尚未结束，它仍在延续。

平心而论，在近年将战争，情感与人伦这几个经典母题结合起来的作品中，《追风筝的人》是比较成功的一部。它在其中描写的哈桑与阿米尔之间纯洁到了刺痛灵魂的感情与成人间复杂微妙的情感纠葛联系地非常奇妙；而在涉及时代变迁与文明冲突时，将古老深沉的阿富汗文明和积极活跃的现代美国文明平衡在了一个巧妙的位置，使人在阅读时并不产生两种文明之间的对比感，而是更真切地体会到一种多元文化并行存在，共同构成世界的斑斓。但是从某种程度上来说，我还是认为那些并不重要，要欣赏这部作品，仅仅保有一份心灵原始的纯洁信仰就够了。浩瀚的绝望中透出微光，那光分明如此羸弱，却给予盛大救赎。

最终夕阳落下，喧嚣渐渐散去，回响不绝：

For you，a thousand times over。

为你，千千万万遍。

语言终究稀薄地无法再继续吐露自身的苍白，我所能做的不过是回忆起高二时运动会上读完《追风筝的人》时抬起头来一瞬间呼吸到的飒然空气，然后因为它传递的某种信念，从而尽力将本心坚持下去，以冀能更长久地保有已承受诸多恩惠而成为如今模样的心灵。

请让那只风筝自由地跌落，这是我最后的请求。

Khaled Hosseini's quietly powerful debut novel The Kite Runner fulfills the promise of fiction, awakening curiosity about the world around us, speaking truth as the lessons of history echo down the years. The themes are universal: familial relationships, particularly father and son; the price of disloyalty; the inhumanity of a rigid class system; and the horrific realities of war.

In Afghanistan, young Amir's earliest memories of life in Kabul are blessed with a cultural heritage

that values tradition, blood ties and a deeply rooted cultural identity. Upper class Pashtuns, Amir enjoys the luxury of education, material comfort and a constant playmate, the son of his father's longtime Hazara servant, Hassan.

Twice in his lifetime Amir is morally tested in his relationship with Hassan. The first time, a victim of his own arrogance, Amir fails his companion. Hiding behind the superiority of class, Amir chooses the path of least resistance, but the scar of betrayal cuts through his soul and never heals. That first failure dictates Amir's inner dialogue throughout his life, even in America, until he is offered another chance at personal redemption. Returned to his homeland at the request of an old family friend, the second challenge is equally perilous, and Amir recognizes the very real implications of his decision. This internal struggle is the underlying theme of the novel, which spans Afghani history from the peaceful 70's to the repressive rule of the Taliban in the late '90s.

Played out on the world stage, a desperate battle to preserve the cultural heritage of Afghanistan spans Amir's life in Kabul and America. While Amir and his father reside safely in America, their homeland is decimated by constant warfare -- streets lined with beggars, fatherless children whose future is marginalized by poverty: "There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood." The sweet simplicity of youthful winters spent "kite running" with Hassan seem light years away, illuminated by the boys' unfettered innocence.

Against this stark landscape, the adult Amir is challenged as never before, charged with the protection of a young life already scarred by the random violence visited upon the disenfranchised. With inordinate compassion and stunning simplicity, Hosseini portrays Amir's impossible dilemma. Complications abound, but the answer lies in humanity's capacity for kindness. The grace of acceptance heals the wounds of brutality, for with forgiveness anything is possible, even the wild joy of soaring kites against a winter sky.

Plot summary

The majority of the novel takes place in December 1945. The story commences with Holden Caulfield, the seventeen-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel, addressing the reader directly from a mental hospital in southern California. He wants to tell us about events that took place over a two-day period the previous December. It is a frame story, or long flashback, constructed through Holden's memory as he describes encounters he has had with students and faculty of Pencey Prep (scholars often compare Pencey Prep to Valley Forge Military Academy, which Salinger attended from the ages of 15 to 17) in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. He criticizes them for being superficial, as he would say, "phony."

Holden begins at Pencey Prep, an exclusive private school in Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditional football game with school rival, Saxon Hall. Holden misses the game. Manager of the fencing team, he managed to lose the team's equipment on the subway that morning, resulting in the cancellation of a match in New York. He is on his way to the home of his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, to say good-bye. Holden has been expelled and is not to return after Christmas break, which begins Wednesday. Spencer is a well-meaning but long-winded old man, and Holden gladly escapes to the quiet of an almost deserted dorm. Wearing his new red hunting

cap, he begins to read. His reverie is temporary. First, a dorm neighbor named Ackley disturbs him. Later, Holden argues with his roommate, Stradlater, who fails to appreciate a theme that Holden has written for him about Holden's deceased brother Allie's baseball glove. A womanizer, Stradlater has just returned from a date with Holden's old friend Jane Gallagher. The two roommates fight, Stradlater winning easily. Holden has had enough of Pencey Prep and catches a train to New York City where he plans to stay in a hotel until Wednesday, when his parents expect him to return home for Christmas vacation.

He checks into the dilapidated Edmont Hotel. After observing the behavior of the "perverts" in the hotel room facing his, he struggles with his own sexuality. There, he spends an evening dancing with three tourist women in their thirties from Seattle in the hotel lounge and enjoys dancing with one but ends up with only the check. Following a disappointing visit to Ernie's Nightclub in Greenwich Village, Holden agrees to have a prostitute, Sunny, visit his room.[13] His attitude toward the prostitute changes the minute she enters the room, because she seems to be about the same age as Holden and starts to view her as a person. Holden becomes uncomfortable with the situation, and when he tells her that all he wants to do is talk, she becomes annoyed with him and leaves. However, he still pays her for her time. Sunny and Maurice, her pimp, later return to Holden's hotel room and demand more money than was originally agreed upon. Despite the fact that Sunny takes five dollars from Holden's wallet, Maurice punches Holden in the stomach.

After a short sleep, Holden telephones Sally Hayes, a familiar date, and agrees to meet her that afternoon to go to a play. Meanwhile, Holden leaves the hotel, checks his luggage at Grand Central Station, and has a late breakfast. He meets two nuns, one an English teacher, with whom he discusses Romeo and Juliet. Holden looks for a special record for his 10-year-old sister, Phoebe, called "Little Shirley Beans." He spots a small boy singing "If a body catches a body coming through the rye," which somehow makes Holden feel less depressed. After seeing the play with Sally featuring Broadway stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the two go skating at Radio City, and while drinking coke Holden impulsively invites Sally to run away with him, but she declines. Her response deflates Holden's mood, which prompts a remark: "You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth," he tells her, regretting it immediately. Sally storms off as Holden follows, pleading with her to accept his apology. Finally, Holden gives up and leaves her there, sees the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall, endures a movie, and gets very drunk. Throughout the novel, Holden has been worried about the ducks in the lagoon at Central Park. He tries to find them but only manages to break Phoebe's recording in the process. Exhausted physically and mentally, he heads home to see his sister.

Holden spends a total of three days in the city, and the time is characterized largely by drunkenness and loneliness. At one point he ends up thinking about the Museum of Natural History, where he went to frequently as a child. He contrasts his life with the statues of Eskimos on display. For as long as he can remember, the statues have been unchanging. These concerns may have stemmed largely from the death of his brother, Allie. Eventually, he sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are away, to visit his younger sister, Phoebe, who is the only person with whom he seems to be able to communicate. Holden and Phoebe are close friends as

well as siblings. Holden shares a fantasy he has been thinking about (based on a mishearing of Robert Burns' Comin' Through the Rye): he pictures himself as the sole guardian of numerous children running and playing in a huge rye field on the edge of a cliff. His job is to catch the children if, in their abandon, come close to falling off the brink; to be a "catcher in the rye." Because of this misinterpretation, Holden believes that to be a "catcher in the rye" means to save children from losing their innocence.

After leaving his parents' apartment, Holden drops by to see a former and much admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini, in the middle of the night, and is offered advice on life and a place to sleep. Mr. Antolini tells Holden that it is the mark of the mature man to live humbly for a cause, rather than die nobly for it. This is at odds with Holden's ideas of becoming a "catcher in the rye," a heroic figure who symbolically saves children from "falling off a crazy cliff" and being exposed to the evils of adulthood. During the speech on life, Mr. Antolini has a number of cocktails served in highball glasses. Holden is upset when he wakes up in the night to find Mr. Antolini patting his head in a way that he regards as "flitty." There is much speculation on whether Mr. Antolini was making a homosexual advance on Holden or whether he was merely overreacting to a fatherly gesture made by Antolini. Holden leaves and spends his last afternoon wandering the city. He later wonders if his interpretation of Mr. Antolini's actions was actually correct, and seems to wonder how much it matters anyway.

Holden makes the decision that he will head out west and live as a deaf-mute. When he mentions these plans to his little sister Monday morning, she decides she wants to go with him. Holden declines her offer and refuses to have her accompany him. This upsets Phoebe, so Holden does her a favor and decides not to leave after all. Holden tries to reverse her saddened mood by taking her to the Central Park Zoo. He realizes his mistake as she rides the carousel that lies within the zoo. He is filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe riding the carousel in the rain.

At the conclusion of the novel, Holden decides not to mention much about the present day, finding it inconsequential. He alludes to "getting sick" and living in a mental hospital, and mentions that he'll be attending another school in September; he relates how he has been asked whether he will apply himself properly to study this time around and questions whether such a question has any meaning before the fact. Holden says that he doesn't want to tell us anymore, because surprisingly he found himself missing two of his former classmates, Stradlater and Ackley, and even Maurice, the elevator operator/pimp. He warns the reader that telling others about their own experiences will lead them to miss the people who shared them.

[edit] History

Various older stories by Salinger contain characters similar to those in The Catcher in the Rye. While at Columbia University, Salinger wrote a short story called "Young Folks" in Whit Burnett's class; one character from this story has been described as a "thinly penciled prototype of Sally Hayes". In November 1941, Salinger sold the story "Slight Rebellion off Madison", which featured Holden Caulfield, to The New Yorker, but it was not published until December 21, 1946, due to

World War II. The story "I'm Crazy", which was published in the December 22, 1945, issue of Collier's, contained material that was later used in The Catcher in the Rye. A ninety-page manuscript about Holden Caulfield was accepted by The New Yorker for publication in 1946, but it was later withdrawn by Salinger.[14]

[edit] Writing style

The Catcher in the Rye is written in a subjective style from the point of view of its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, following his exact thought processes. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences.

Critical reviews agree that the novel accurately reflected the teenage colloquial speech of the time.[15] Words and phrases that frequently appear include:

"Phony": Superficial, hypocritical, and pretentious

"That killed me": I found that hilarious or astonishing

"Flit": Homosexual

"Flitty": Homosexual behavior

Wuddya: (the ya slang) vernacular rendering, idiomatic

"Crumby": Inadequate, insufficient, and/or disappointing

[edit] Interpretations

Writer Bruce Brooks held that Holden's attitude remains unchanged at story's end, implying no maturation, thus differentiating the novel from young adult fiction.[16] In contrast, writer and academic Louis Menand thought that teachers assign the novel because of the optimistic ending, to teach adolescent readers that "alienation is just a phase."[17] While Brooks maintained that Holden acts his age, Menand claimed that Holden thinks as an adult, given his ability to accurately perceive people and their motives such as when Phoebe states that she will go out west with Holden, and he immediately rejects this idea as ridiculous, much to Phoebe's disappointment. Others highlight the dilemma of Holden's state, in between adolescence and adulthood.[18][19] While Holden views himself to be smarter than and as mature as adults, he is quick to become emotional. "I felt sorry as hell for..." is a phrase he often uses.[18]

Peter Beidler, in his A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye", identifies the movie that the prostitute "Sunny" refers to in chapter 13 of The Catcher in the Rye. She says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. The movie is Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy. Sunny says that Holden looks like the boy who fell off the boat. Beidler shows (page 28) a still of the boy, played by child-actor Freddie Bartholomew.

The novel's philosophy has been negatively compared with that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[20][clarification needed]

Each Caulfield child has literary talent: D. B. writes screenplays in Hollywood; Holden also reveres

D. B. for his writing skill (Holden's own best subject), but he also despises Hollywood industry-based movies, considering them the ultimate in "phony" as the writer has no space for his own imagination, and describes D. B.'s move to Hollywood to write for films as "prostituting himself"; Allie wrote poetry on his baseball glove; and Phoebe is a diarist.[21][not in citation given] This "catcher in the rye" is an analogy for Holden, who admires in kids attributes that he struggles to find in adults, like innocence, kindness, spontaneity, and generosity. Falling off the cliff could be a progression into the adult world that surrounds him and that he strongly criticizes. Later, Phoebe and Holden exchange roles as the "catcher" and the "fallen"; he gives her his hunting hat, the catcher's symbol, and becomes the fallen as Phoebe becomes the catcher.[22]

[edit] Reception

The Catcher in the Rye has been listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Shortly after its publication, writing for The New York Times, Nash K. Burger called it "an unusually brilliant novel,"[23] while James Stern wrote an admiring review of the book in a voice imitating Holden's.[24] 41st United States president George H. W. Bush called it "a marvelous book," listing it among the books that have inspired him.[25] In June 2009, the BBC's Finlo Rohrer wrote that, 58 years since publication, the book is still regarded "as the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager. Holden is at various times disaffected, disgruntled, alienated, isolated, directionless, and sarcastic."[26] Adam Gopnik considers it one of the "three perfect books" in American literature, along with Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, and believes that "no book has ever captured a city better than Catcher in the Rye captured New York in the fifties."[27]

Not all reception has been positive, however; the book has had its share of critics. Rohrer writes, "Many of these readers are disappointed that the novel fails to meet the expectations generated by the mystique it is shrouded in. J. D. Salinger has done his part to enhance this mystique. That is to say, he has done nothing."[26] Rohrer assessed the reasons behind both the popularity and criticism of the book, saying that it "captures existential teenage angst" and has a "complex central character" and "accessible conversational style"; while at the same time some readers may dislike the "use of 1940s New York vernacular," "self-obsessed central character," and "too much whining."[26]

[edit] Controversy

In 1960 a teacher was fired for assigning the novel in class; he was later reinstated.[28][dead link] Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States.[29] In 1981 it was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States.[30] According to the American Library Association, The Catcher in the Rye was the tenth most frequently challenged book from 1990–1999.[10] It was one of the ten most challenged books of 2005[31] and although it had been off the list for three years, it reappeared in the list of most challenged books of 2009.[32] The challenges generally begin with Holden's frequent use of vulgar language,[33][34] with other reasons including sexual references,[35] blasphemy, undermining of family values[34] and moral

codes,[36] Holden's being a poor role model,[37] encouragement of rebellion,[38] and promotion of drinking, smoking, lying, and promiscuity.[36] Often the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself.[29] 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."[34] 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.[39]

Mark David Chapman's shooting of John Lennon (Chapman was arrested with his worn copy of the book, and inside, he had scribbled a note: "Dear Holden Caulfield, From Holden Caulfield, This is my statement"), Robert John Bardo's shooting of Rebecca Schaeffer, and John Hinckley, Jr.'s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan have also been associated with the novel.[40][41]

In 2009 Salinger successfully sued to stop the U.S. publication of a novel that presents Holden Caulfield as an old man.[26][42] 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."[43] 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.[44] Although commonly not authorized by writers, no legal action is usually taken[45] 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 existed on the Internet for years without any legal action taken by Salinger before his death.[44]

[edit] Attempted adaptations

Early in his career, Salinger expressed a willingness to have his work adapted for the screen.[46] However, in 1949, a critically panned film version of his short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" was released; renamed My Foolish Heart and taking great liberties with Salinger's plot, the film is widely considered to be among the reasons that Salinger refused to allow any subsequent movie adaptations of his work.[18][47] The enduring popularity of The Catcher in the Rye, however, has resulted in repeated attempts to secure the novel's screen rights.[48]

When The Catcher in the Rye was first released, many offers were made to adapt it for the screen; among them was Sam Goldwyn, producer of My Foolish Heart.[47] In a letter written in the early fifties, J. D. Salinger spoke of mounting a play in which he would play the role of Holden Caulfield opposite Margaret O'Brien, and, if he couldn’t play the part himself, to “forget about it." Almost fifty years later, the writer Joyce Maynard definitively concluded, "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger."[49]

J. D. Salinger told Maynard in the seventies that Jerry Lewis "tried for years to get his hands on the part of Holden,"[49] despite Lewis not having read the novel until he was in his thirties.[39] Celebrities ranging from Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson to Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio have since made efforts to make a film adaptation.[50] In an interview with Premiere magazine, John Cusack commented that his one regret about turning twenty-one was that he had become too old to play Holden Caulfield. Writer-director Billy Wilder recounted his abortive

attempts to snare the novel's rights:

Of course I read The Catcher in the Rye....Wonderful book. I loved it. I pursued it. I wanted to make a picture out of it. And then one day a young man came to the office of Leland Hayward, my agent, in New York, and said, 'Please tell Mr. Leland Hayward to lay off. He’s very, very insensitive.' And he walked out. That was the entire speech. I never saw him. That was J. D. Salinger and that was Catcher in the Rye.[51]

In 1961 J. D. Salinger denied Elia Kazan permission to direct a stage adaptation of Catcher for Broadway.[52] More recently, Salinger's agents received bids for the Catcher movie rights from Harvey Weinstein and Steven Spielberg,[53][dead link] neither of which was even passed on to J.

D. Salinger for consideration.

In 2003 the BBC television program The Big Read featured The Catcher in the Rye, intercutting discussions of the novel with "a series of short films that featured an actor playing J. D. Salinger's adolescent antihero, Holden Caulfield."[52] The show defended its unlicensed adaptation of the novel by claiming to be a "literary review", and no major charges were filed.

According to a speculative article in The Guardian in May 2006, there were rumors that director Terrence Malick had been linked to a possible screen adaptation of the novel.[54]

After J. D. Salinger's death in 2010, Phyllis Westberg, who was Salinger's agent at Harold Ober Associates, stated that nothing has changed in terms of licensing movie, television, or stage rights of his works.[55] A letter written by Salinger in 1957 revealed that he was open to an adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye released after his death. He wrote: "Firstly, it is possible that one day the rights will be sold. Since there's an ever-looming possibility that I won't die rich, I toy very seriously with the idea of leaving the unsold rights to my wife and daughter as a kind of insurance policy. It pleasures me no end, though, I might quickly add, to know that I won't have to see the results of the transaction."[56]