The Catcher in the Rye question

I would say no, because I think there are so many books you can be certain everyone will like, and this seems to be a book only 1 in 10 people get anything out of.

To Kill a Mocking Bird and Of Mice and Men are books I think can mean something to absolutely everyone without being simple or unintelligent. I'm sure people could recommend others they read in high school and they loved.

Anyway most kids need a book where something actually happens.

Well, It's been a long time since I've personally read Catcher...but I will say this.

I teach middle school English. And really, as teachers, kids can love anything if you present it the right way. I know some teachers think "The Pearl" by Steinbeck is not kid friendly...but my students always love it. They actually get excited about irony and foreshadowing...and the puzzles of symbolism.

If you are passionate about a book and its lessons, your students will be also.

I wish I would have read this book in class and been able to discuss it. It's such a great book I read it when I was in high school on my own seeing as how my teacher wasn't a fan and didn't teach it.

It's a definite must teach because so many people could connect with Holden, J.D. did such a great job with the character.

I'm fifteen and read it on my own this summer out of curiousity. Dated? Well, from the first page you know that the price of jaguars have gone up. If I were forced to read this in school, I would probably hate it. School drains the excitement out of things that way.
If you choose to teach this, there will be students who hate it simply because it's being shoved down their throats, students who hate it for the swearing, and students who would have liked it anyways but can't just enjoy it because they're forced to analyze the life out of it.
And please, don't use the phrase "coming of age" in front of your class. My least favorite words in the English language after "angst". People use them to describe EVERYTHING in YA fiction.

I'm older than the people on this thread but I want to share my opinion of this book, which was a watershed in its day and seems to be seen as something of an enigma today. I think that's because it's not a "young-adult" book and in my opinion shouldn't be read until college. Yes, the protagonist is a conflicted adolescent, but the author is clearly looking back at him. It's the kind of thing someone can understand AFTER having been through the agony of adolescence and come out the other side. It was put in my hand in the second semester of my freshman year in college, by a professor who was teaching it to the upperclassmen and thought I might be among the few who would appreciate it. He was right. Learning of Holden Caulfield's world and way of describing it was a revelation to me, who had grown up in a repressed Southern environment. We didn't use words like that then and I was entranced at how expressive and powerful they could be. My friends and I have cherished this book all our lives. I was appalled to learn that my grandson was taught it in junior high and again through several classes of high school English, the way I was taught SILAS MARNER and AS YOU LIKE IT. He claims to have loved the book, but I maintain that he couldn't have "gotten" it no matter what he thinks. Holden's angst is not a lesson for teenagers, but one to look back upon and learn from.

I was forced to read it in high school, and anything forced immediately loses some enjoyment for me. I didn't like the book when I read it, I didn't understand it, I didn't see the point, and I couldn't relate one bit. And then having to over-analyze every bit of it made me start to hate it.

Now that I'm older, I can appreciate the book for certain parts, and I actually "like" it. It has a quality about it that's hard to describe. I often say it's a book about nothing, and yet, there's a lot going on.

I read it independently since I graduated early. Had a difficult time relating to the main character. I might re-read it when my kids are in HS.

I would suggest teaching it. We read it in my high school freshmen english class, and I liked the book. It really depends on the student, but it was one of the books that I liked reading that I was assigned.

I shouldn't piggy back on another person's comment but I believe that Cynjit was right in what was said. I also think that if you care passionately about teaching or getting a message across to the kids then you can get them to learn the ideas you have about the book.
I look back at a LOT of my teachers (especially my English teachers, I guess they were my favorites!) and I think of times I really loved a book or play, which probably meant the teacher did an awesome job at making me love it- or the opposite when I did not find the play or book interesting and I wonder if it was at the teacher's fault.
Either way if you love to teach, that will reflect what they will love about your subject!

It all depends on the age of the students. I read this when I was 19, during college for fun and did not enjoy it because I felt (for the first time ever) too mature for the subject matter. But while reading, I could definitely see where students around 14-16 would really feel a connection to the narrator.

Angela wrote: "Catcher in the Rye was the novel that influenced me to become an English teacher. (It's a long-ish story, for a rainy day.) I have just finished my first year teaching in NYC, and I genuinely do n..."

I am also an English Teacher and I work in a unit for vulnerable pupils. One of my pupils asked could I teach her this novel. I was very dubious about this for she had had a mental breakdown in the past and was under Child Mental Health services but wouldn't open up. I consulted her worker who urged me to study this with her as it might allow her to confront some of her issues. I was very worried. This was heavy stuff. It was one of the best decisions tht I have ever made as a teacher. She totally understood Holden Caulfield like I have never done. She analysed his emotions, his decisions, his humour. she was amazing. she got an A* in her Literature GCSE, but more importantly it helped her develop into an adult.

I read it around te beginning of this year (I think) and I adored it. Though I don't know how many other high schoolers would enjoy it, especially the majority which doesn't seem to enjoy reading, since it is kind of a slow paced book with little action. Plus being forced to read a book creates a natural inclination to dislike it. Take Fahrenheit 451, probably would have really liked it on my own, simply just tolerated it when we had to read it freshman year.

So if it's a book you enjoy and don't really want to see it go to waste (for lack of better phrasing), you should probably leave it out of the plan! It's one of those that most would have to discover by themselves (or at a non forceful suggestion ;)) to appreciate.

I read this book as an independent reading assignment. I didn't enjoy it. However, speaking with peers later on who had the opportunity to read it in a classroom setting with a teacher who was passionate about it, I think it should be taught in school. The projects that they had, such as "Diagnose Holden" seemed really cool and they seemed to gain and refine may literary analysis and writing skills.
So yes, it should be taught.

I think teenagers today would think it was boring and out dated. But I think it should be discussed if only because it has a cult like status in society. People reference it in pop culture all the time so it has some relevance today in that sense. The young adults I know would not enjoy it nor would they relate to anything about it.

I read it independently in HS and then again as a class requirement in college. You need to have a teacher who is willing to talk about the deeper issues of mental illness. It is one of the best books I have ever taught in HS English.

Angela wrote: "Catcher in the Rye was the novel that influenced me to become an English teacher. (It's a long-ish story, for a rainy day.) I have just finished my first year teaching in NYC, and I genuinely do n..."

I read it in HS - okay in the late '60s - and was blown away. I have re-read it many times over the years. Would a "modern" HS-er be able to relate? Honestly, I don't know, but I would give it a go. Even if you get a positive response from a handful of students wouldn't that be gratifying?

I think it would be a good idea to have this book in the high-school curriculum. I enjoyed it when I was eighteen and all of my friends who have read the book have found it absolutely delightful.

Angela wrote: "Catcher in the Rye was the novel that influenced me to become an English teacher. (It's a long-ish story, for a rainy day.) I have just finished my first year teaching in NYC, and I genuinely do n..."
So I'm a freshmen in high school, and I just finished reading this book (not for school, though...) Although I didn't like the book, I didn't really understand it either, so I feel like I'd have enjoyed it a little more if I'd had a teacher explain it to me.

Angela wrote: "Catcher in the Rye was the novel that influenced me to become an English teacher. (It's a long-ish story, for a rainy day.) I have just finished my first year teaching in NYC, and I genuinely do n..."
I am a contemporary teen, and was 16 when I read the book. I loved it in the strange way you can only love Salinger books, a sort of personal, private infatuation. And in-fact it annoys me in life when people bang on about how great a book it is, which is sort of contradictory but hell it still does because that book really mean't something. There was this girl who went around using the word 'phony' in nearly every sentence she spat out. It was the worst.
Anyhow. In short, as I read this personally from nearly no influence from anyone else I can't say how great it'd be to analyse it in an English class. Of-course it is fairly short and condensed with tons of themes and motifs so it fits the English Class criteria. However I'm unsure whether I would have enjoyed it as much had it been compulsory text, as I am now studying Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and despite being a huge Woolf fan, I didn't enjoy the book as much as I felt I could have.
I'm just trying to help by speaking honestly and openly. Salutations- Aaron.

Angela wrote: "Catcher in the Rye was the novel that influenced me to become an English teacher. (It's a long-ish story, for a rainy day.) I have just finished my first year teaching in NYC, and I genuinely do n..."

I am 17-years-old right now and read the Catcher in the Rye just last year. I read it out of my own free will and understood all of it. And even though I am a teenager myself, I agree that most teenagers today wouldn't understand it. I am one of the lucky few who was raised by a family of bookworms and taught by an incredible English teacher who has inspired me to never become intimidated by the size of the words or the size of the novel. I hope to become an English teacher just like her one day.

I definately think this appropriate for high school, but I agree with many of the other comments, that it is all on how it is presented. I also think you have to make sure you create discussion groups whenever giving assignments for books, well discussion groups and writer/response journals. I know not all students like the writer response journals, but it really does help the student to grow and learn, and it is also a way for the teacher to facilitate the student's needs. How can you know if your student understands the material if they are afraid to talk in the discussion? And I have found that if you create a comfortable setting for dialog between students you will see that the quietest student will all of sudden open up. Another thing that helps is having the students teach specific chapters...not as group projects as individual, have the student create 3 or 4 topic questions and let them facilitate the discussion. In classes that I have taken on Adolescent Literature and Children's Lit I have seen that this helps others see the material in a completely new light, and remember that we all approach every story with our own lenses (our life experiences, so certain parts of a story appeal or pop out to some of us in ways that it doesn't for others). I think most importantly with this story in particular is to really important to talk about the time period and compare it to now...I mean Holden has the stereotypical attitude of a teenager who is ready to be done with their parents, school and the rules of society.

My mother had a copy of this in her library and I read it in tenth grade. I read it probably twice that year, then again in my thirties. I feel like the kids read a lot of trash in some jr and HS classes - they'll read that on their own! Introduce them to some real literature please :)

If your students seem like the type who want to read a novel with no plot & not have it explained to them if they are right or not, then they aren't like me...
I didn't like it- because that's what our teacher did. If you present it well & actually explain it they might come to like it. Our Fun read was Northern Lights, this the Boring. Because we had to spur ourselves on to finish it- and that's hard when you don't recognize there being a point to it. I don't have a problem with dated books if they were given to us like other books...

I would say that no novels should be taught in any school because the school ruins it by teaching it and assigning questions like "what did it mean when -so'n'so did this.?" or "what is the symbolism when so'n'so did this?"

since that is not realistic, i think that Catcher should not be taught in middle school. and should be taught in HS senior year, or Sophomore year. (sophomore year the readers -at least the boys- will be able to relate to Holden, and when they read it thier senior year, they will think he is immature.

I read this book when I was sixteen and it profoundly changed me for the better. Every high school student should have the opportunity to read this book whether it is taught as part of the curriculum or not.

I read this sophomore year in English, almost three years ago. I loved it though I let misconceptions of the Red Scare hinder me from understanding it until a little while later. That same year my class also read The Crucible. For these two works I believe that teaching historical context greatly helps in understanding. Overall I say that highschoolers are mature enough to understand the book, whether or not they enjoy it.

I think that the book would be great for a more advanced class of students like Honors or AP or TAG discussion. I think those students would be more adept at understanding the nuances of subtle lessons. Although, this comes from someone who has not taught English only tutored. I taught high school science and tutored at a middle school. I just think back to my high school days and the books we were required to read. I don't think I would have enjoyed this one for the subtle literary brilliance but might have loved the swear words, even though I was an Honor's English and TAG student. I just don't think that enough of the kids can relate to this character given his very privileged existence. I much prefer Steinbeck any day over this book or Twain. I think that the poetic nature of Steinbeck and Twain shouts loudly at the reader so that they can reach a broader audience more easily. It seems to me that when I was young I could understand a book better when there was a prevalent antagonist,i.e., society, racism, gangs, poverty. In that way, I understood Huckfin, Mockingbird, Beowulf, etc. Caufield's biggest enemy was from within and so was Gatsby's.

Hello Angela.

I have a unique perspective as a personal tutor who works one-on-one with students all the time here in San Francisco. I can tell you unequivocally that this book still moves kids -- provided that they have a guide to help them connect with a time, place, and culture not readily accessible to them. Considering that you and your colleagues succeed brilliantly in enabling kids to appreciate Shakespeare four-hundred years later, it should be a piece of cake to help them appreciate this modern classic.

I think it would be a shame if your kids did not read this tender masterpiece.

I read it in junior high (on my own, not assigned) and loved it. I think students would be far more likely to appreciate a book about a character their own age, who is probably feeling and thinking a lot of the things they are, than something like The Scarlet Letter. Go for it.

Angela, I'm not a teen, but I taught high school English for 17 years. I was the only teacher in my school (more than 20 teachers in English department) who taught Catcher. I adored the entire experience. I found my students amazed to realize the book was published in the late 1940s and Holden, if a real person, would be the age of their great grandparents. That's what makes it a classic. I loved their reactions, from hating him to loving him, but always, always feeling passion and becoming involved in his story. I heartily give my recommendation to give it a try. Also, I usually taught it in the fall around the time the top banned books in the U.S. came out, and the kids loved it that the book was banned in some places. It also bridged generation gaps. Kids would talk to their parents about it. Sometimes the parents had read it and adored it so they had a place of communication. Other times the parents read it along with their kids because it had been forbidden for them to read when a teenager. Good discussions come out of it all the way around. As you can see, I'm a proponent of Holden and the whole Catcher experience!

We'd have fewer cases of teenagers going postal if CATCHER were used to teach about mental illness. Like John Voss in EMPIRE FALLS, and Andrew Clark in the cult film, BREAKFAST CLUB, Holden Caulfield shines a golden light on the teenager in crisis.

Try and view CATCHER as less about teenage coming-of-age angst and more about a kid struggling against the downward spiral of mental illness. Without professional help he was doomed to submerge and did, ending up in a "rest home."

Holden was barely "holdin' on."

Teenage angst is a gross oversimplification of Holden Caufield's errartic behavior. It's Salinger's masterfully rendered array of extreme symptoms that's largely responsible for the success of the book, but it's too complicated or too sensitive for English teachers to talk about mental illness; so they focus on the simple and obvious.

Such teachers are missing a phenomenal opportunity to reach kids who are in crisis or who know of someone who is.

As an undergraduate in the '60s I could barely get through CATCHER. I didn't care about some crude spoiled preppy kid who couldn't get his act together. In a word, I was clueless. Unguided, a lot of people will react to the book in this way. That's what a teacher is for, to shine a little light now and then.

I accept that Holden is supposed to be a fictional character, but the book is autobiographical, and a careful reading provides valuable insight into the human condition in the tradition of fine literature.

A greater sense of Holden Caufield/JD Salinger can be found in the film FINDING FORESTER, which is often said to be based on Salinger. In a 1953 interview with a high-school newspaper, Salinger said that the novel was "sort of" autobiographical: "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book ...it was a great relief telling people about it."

In rereading the book last fall I discovered that Holden was suffering from PTSD stemming from the death of his brother and from witnessing the suicide of a schoolmate who bailed out of a dorm window wearing the sweater Holden had loaned him. I researched and listed the symptoms: depression, poor concentration, attention deficit, crying, uncontrollable rage, lack of motivation, self-isolation, sleeplessness, etc.

(I'm intimately familiar with these symptoms because my own PTSD diagnosis stemming from childhood trauma.I get Holden's struggle. I live with that same feeling that I need to save kids from danger. I had to watch boys get horrific beatings in the orphanage where I spent the last nine years of my childhood. It's this compulsion to protect children that drives my own writing.)

Salinger, when writing CATCHER wouldn't have had a clue about PTSD, as it wasn't even in the diagnostic manual (DSM) for psychologists until decades later. He was just writing what he felt, blasting his feelings onto paper and letting the chips fall.

Talent is talent and courage is courage. I give J.D. credit for both.

7/20/12: Oddly enough, there's an example in the news just this morning about a shooting by a disturbed you young man, James Holmes, in Colorado at a screening of Batman. If we teach mental health in grade school, maybe some of this can be prevented.

Here's the link: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/201...



http://www.amazon.com/BIRDBOY-1-BIRDB...

I actually just read it this summer, and while it wasn't necessarily my favorite book, I greatly appreciated how it shed a new light on depression. Even though I do not suffer from it as badly as I did, I can still remember what it was like as a teenager who was genuinely miserable, but was thought to just be acting up. There were many times during my reading of the novel that I felt like I was looking at something that I, personally, had written.

I would greatly encourage you to read it with your students. I have no doubts that someone in your class will appreciate reading it, for no other reason than they have finally found someone who feels like they do, even if they are a fictional character.

One other reason that I greatly encourage you to teach this novel is for collegiate purposes. I am an English major about to enter her second year of college, and I had never read the book before this summer. I can't tell you how many times my professors used the novel as an example during their lessons. I actually believe that I was one of the only students who hadn't read the novel! I was pretty much lost during those discussions.

I remember I read Catcher in high school, and I think it is dated. I didn't get the allure of the novel, and it bored me. I think to really teach this book, you need to set the scene. Tell of the history of the time and why the book was fresh and shocking when it came out. So much has been influenced by this book that now it is passe. The average student will not be impressed these days unless you really set the scene.

I think the catcher in the rye should definitely be part of the curriculum. I read it first on my own and loved it. and then, during my exchange year in the US, we dealt with it in my English class and it was the only book that really got the whole class interested. and even though I had already read it, there was still something new, a new insight, a different point of view, a deeper understanding, for me in it. I still remember what my teacher said (not only about the catcher, but also books in general) and that was, that by reading books we learn about mistakes without having to make them. and that's why he thought it was important to have students read the catcher (surely not the only reason though).
but maybe my opinion isn't exactly the most helpful since I've been a fan of the novel and J.D. Salinger, as said, even before I had it in school :)

@Angela:

This may or not be helpful as a response (though it is intended to be I hope you realise) ... but speaking as a teacher (in the UK) I think the issue is not so much the text as the audience.

While I appreciate why you would want to ask the question, you're asking it to the wrong set of people. By definition, if you're on Good reads at all (especially an HS student), you'll be the wrong sort of person to ask whether or not you'd like to read text x, text y, or, as in this case, Catcher in the Rye.

That said, I will say this though ... I don't know if this is a common experience or not, but one day when I was about 14 or 15 our regular teacher was ill and we got a supply teacher instead. The supply teacher walked in the room, handed out books from a massive box and said 'read this.'

It turned out to be 'Tickets please!' by D.H. Lawrence. At the time, I thought it was one of the stupidest stories imaginable. A guy sells tickets on a tram. Then some girls decide to hit him a bit.

I completely missed every subtlety and nuance the story carried, I was completely oblivious to the fact that John should have been at war, that he was an older man who dyed his hair, that he was having affairs with the women of the conductresses of Nottingham. And I definitely missed out on the symbolism of the electric bulbs that give out light without heat (at least in the narrative they do), that burn without warmth in the cold, dark emptiness of the night.

But here's the thing I wanted to say which I think is both the best and worst thing about teaching HS - it's that the majority of the class, being normal teenagers, simply won't have the emotional or intellectual resources to interpret what they are reading. But that, weirdly, is a good thing. Because if they are unable to process the text they will also be unable to resolve what it's about.

For the most part, they will forget that they'd read it at all but every now and again, it'll creep back to them. And from there, they may either work it out or even read it again and finally grasp its significance.

So my point is, if you're passionate about this story, that passion will get through to them. But at the same time, if you encounter a bunch of blank faces or at any rate what seems to be a completely indifferent response, remember that what you are doing is sowing a seed, not planting a tree whole, with the fruit already ripened and ready to pluck.

You may well never see that moment when the penny drops (and of course for some kids it just may never drop), but that doesn't mean to say that it won't.

The influence of stock market rules on education means that we expect (and are expected to deliver) instant results and immediate successes ... but it's not possible, I don't think, to compare making a profit on short selling (or whatever) with something somebody learns. Knowledge works to a different time scale.

Judging the achievements of a literary education against the same measures as you would use to evaluate the profitability of a Pfizer drug is like saying that a mountain glacier is a failed river because it can't be used to carry merchandise.

Well, clearly I've digressed more than I meant to so to sum up - teach it if you believe in it's worth but don't expect to see fireworks.

Literature has a long fuse and you never quite know when or if it will 'go off'.

I've read the book recently, and I would say go for it. I found the book enjoyable, although I found Holden was quite irritating.

I guess it's all how you present it. Nowadays, there aren't a lot of avid readers. That being said, I think advanced classes would enjoy the book more.

I don’t know if the kids will appreciate it, but they should definitely read it. Though parts of it may be dated, Holden’s struggle is timeless. Teenagers and angst are like peanut butter and jelly –they just go together. Plus today’s children, probably more than any generation before them, need some sort of culture; or at the very least exposure to good literature. And I feel Catcher is more than palatable. I know I would have rather read it than being forced to repeatedly choke down Romeo and Juliet.

Definitely should be taught in high school because the book is looking into the future a little bit and telling you exactly how teenagers are now. We are people who are just looking for a good time and trying to figure ourselves out. I mean just because it has a little adult behavior (which I mean the prostitute) doesn't mean we should read it or the fact that he had suicidal thoughts... the book Thirteen Reasons Why, had the girl who actually killed herself. The book is in SCHOOL libraries.. Plus who are most people to decide what the FUTURE of the world is to learn when we already have our minds made up...

I am a pupil at a high school in scotland, and we had to read this in class. I cant speak for everyone but i would say the vast majority of us found it unbelievably boring, and there was a lot of googling it in regi on a monday morning to catch up on the story that none of us had read!

Well, I read this in high school and quite honestly, I hated it. I read it in 10th grade. I very much disliked the main character and thought it was a tedious read (and even at that time I would read about 3 books a week next to my schoolbooks, so I was by no means lazy).

I guess, if you explained it right it would be more interesting.

@ Angela,

I studied Catcher in the Rye for English when I was about 16. We had an enthusiastic teacher but I just didn't enjoy this book, mainly because I didn't like Holden Caulfield as a character. Looking back, I think I was probably too immature to really understand the themes in the book, and I think if I re-read it now (i.e. several years later and hopefully a bit more mature!) I would appreciate it a lot more. The problem is that having read it several times at school without really enjoying it, I don't particularly want to read it again.

That same year we also studied The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and had to write an essay comparing it with Catcher. Even though the two books deal with similar themes and issues, I enjoyed The Bell Jar much more than Catcher, and felt I could relate to the protagionist in The Bell Jar far more than I could Holden Caulfield. However, I also enjoyed comparing the two books, exploring the differences between each one and working out what exactly made me feel prefer the one over the other. Have you considered doing a similar comparision exercise with your classes? I think Catcher is definitely worth teaching as it was groundbreaking in its day, but I also think it's one of those 'love it or hate it' books; having another book to compare/contrast it with helped me when studying it and it might help others too.

We read this book in my HS class and I hated the book so much i would never read it again

I was always an avid reader in school. I hated this novel, in fact I hated almost all of the novels we read in eleventh grade English. That year was comprised of mostly the era of Hemingway, Fitzgerald and other writers from that generation. I have never cared for that style of writing. Perhaps it was my teacher's take on the book. She kept telling us to dig deeper, till I struck bottom and found nothing.
I think though if you have a passion for the book and can show your students that passion they might walk away with something. I don't teach an academic course (I'm all grant work and prevention education) however, my husband is an English teacher and I love to suggest books to him and lead him onto the next great book. I think with any novel if the teacher is excited about it then you will have students who will be too.

... that is the question? I teach English in the UK and this is a book I always recommend. It stands the test of time in the same way as Hardy, Fitzgerald and Shakespeare. It speaks of the human condition, admittedly the adolescent condition but that is what makes it relevant for our young people on either side of the pond. Yes, its difficult reading at times but do we really have to dumb everything down. I don't think so and experiences with the young people I teach bear this out. Ask yourself, what would Caulfield think of America/Britain's got talent, the X Factor or Housewives of Orange County. Now there is a dissertation in the making!!!

I read this book for fun when I was 16. For some reason, I was motivated enough to push myself to read it over the summer. It was a great book in my opinion, but I think I would've appreciated it more if I had been able to discuss it with other people my age. So yes, I absolutely agree that it should be taught in high school.

Definitely teach it. I wish I read it in a high school. I read it this year (I'm 22) and I absolutely loved it. I felt J.D. Salinger really captured the voice of a young kid, and I could've seen myself really loving this book in high school.

My older sister warned me it might be "dated," but honestly, I didn't see a problem with it. It's a classic coming-of-age story.

Teach.

I taught The Catcher in the Rye for 4 years to sophomores before I moved to the junior high. I love teaching it with all the symbolism! The kids either love it or hate it. Some think that Holden is too whiny and he drives them crazy, or they connect to him. Definitely teach it! I miss it!

I have to say I agree with Jon. I read it for high school in two days, I loved it. I found it was a masterpiece that is so peculiar, well - written, and connects so much with the young generation even if not directly, but certainly it is a shame for kids not to read it.

This is an opinion as a student, and many times I found myself asking my teacher suggests on what to read. Therefore, I think that teachers have the pleasure to suggest students novel like this one, which students may not pick. I was enthusiastic and happy I had read this novel, even if for school. I read many novels for school that I did not really like, but I am still proud and satisfied I read them. I feel culturally elevated, and not stuck reading books of a kind just because I may not be that accurate at choosing books of certain standards.