The Catcher in the Rye is the second most taught book in American high schools. The reason for this novel's popularity is greater than the value of studying Salinger's well-crafted prose and the novel's universal themes. On the surface The Catcher in the Rye is a story about the events that took place on three December days after a seventeen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, has been expelled from his school, Pencey Prep. We are let in on his most intimate thoughts and are exposed to his non-conformist view of the world, which is intriguing, as he has been placed into a "rest home" for having a nervous breakdown. However, The Catcher in the Rye is not simply a tale of growing up, of losing one's innocence, or of non-conformity, but instead is a study of how one perceives and understands oneself as part of society. The novel's popular protagonist...