Junior feels as if he’s being smacked in the face with his own poverty and throws the book accidentally breaking his teacher’s nose.

It’s the first day of ninth grade, and Junior’s “new” textbook is over thirty-years-old. The novel starts with Junior getting expelled for throwing a textbook at his teacher out of frustration. But he is also alienated among his own people by his appearance. He’s alienated by the fact that he is Native American, both socially in terms of race and physically, as he and his family live on a reservation. Junior is the epitome of an alienated teen. He was born with a brain defect that, while not affecting his intelligence at all, left him with a series of physical defects, which would have made him a target for bullies while growing up. The novel tells the story of fourteen-year-old Junior (Arnold) Spirit. An even better alternative is the National Book Award-winning novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. In fact, Salinger’s novel Franny and Zooey is a great alternative: A) Zooey, a young woman, is the main character and B) Its themes and ideas are more mature and sophisticated without being any less accessible. There are probably countless alternatives to Catcher. But as far as a novel that is both accessible and relatable to high school readers, what is the alternative? While this is a strong point, perhaps it is time to teach it in a creative writing course (or a course specifically about the art of character development). In the article, author Dana Czapnik argues that The Catcher in the Rye isn’t important because of Holden’s relatability but because of how masterfully Salinger portrays his imperfect protagonist. This post contains affiliate links which may provide me with a small kickback to help me maintain the costs of operating this website. Maybe part of The Catcher’s success lies in the fact that his adventure is enviable to most teenagers (running around New York city unsupervised), and that his angst, while specific to him, is relatable in a general sense to all teenagers.

Maybe Caulfield was never super relatable. Holden is white, straight, male, and comes from a well-off family. And the reason lies in Holden Caulfield’s lack of relatability. A recent article in The Guardian asks the question, “Are today’s young readers turning on The Catcher in the Rye?” The short answer to this question is, yes.

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