e from critics or the general public. The Catcher in the Rye was his first step onto
the literary playing field. This initial status left Salinger, as a serious writer, almost unique as a
sort of free agent, not bound to one or more schools of critics, like many of his contemporaries
were. This ability to write freely, his status as a nobody in the literary world, was Salinger's
greatest asset. Rather than to scope inside Salinger's mind and create a grea tness for him, we are
content instead to note him for what he is: "a beautifully deft, professional performer who gives us
a chance to catch quick, half-amused, half-frightened glimpses of ourselves and our
contemporaries, as he confronts us with his brilliant mirror images" (Stevenson 217).
Much of Salinger's reputation, which he acquired after publication of The Catcher in the
Rye, is derived from thoughtful and sympathetic insights into both adolescence and adulthood, his
use of symbolism, and his idiomatic style, which helped to re-introduce the common idiom to
American literature. While the young protagonists of Salinger's stories (such as Holden Caulfield)
have made him a longtime favorite of high school and university audiences, establishing Salinger
as "the spokesman for the goals and values for a generation of youth during the 1950's" (Davis
317), The Catcher in the Rye has been banned continually from schools, libraries, and bookstores
due to its profanity, sexual subject matter, and rejection of some traditional American ideals.
Robert Coles reflected general critical opinion of the author when he called Salinger "an original
and gifted writer, a marvelous entertainer, a man free of the slogans and cliches the rest of us fall
Noted book reviewers from across America critiqued The Catcher in the Rye, bestowing
both praise and criticism at different levels. Each reviewer commented on different parts of the
novel, from Holden's cynici...