| Teenagers are famous for being the most | | | | controversy served only to heighten public |
| powerful voice of their g-g-generation. Stuck | | | | interest, ultimately bolstering the novel's sales. |
| somewhere between the limitations of childhood | | | | Following in Twain's lead is J. D. Salinger's Catcher |
| and the responsibilities of adulthood, they have a | | | | in the Rye, which is narrated from the |
| unique perspective from the fringe of society. To | | | | perspective of a disillusioned seventeen-year old |
| remind ourselves of why the angsty rebellion of | | | | with a biting wit and complete intolerance of |
| youth is so important, let's take a look at some | | | | artificiality. Having no desire to spend his teen |
| of the teen voices of nineteenth- and | | | | years being molded into a "splendid, clear-thinking" |
| twentieth-century literature. | | | | young man, Holden Caulfield flunks out of prep |
| The classic teen novel of the nineteenth century | | | | school and spends the next few days wandering |
| is Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, | | | | around New York. In the process, he alienates |
| which is narrated from the perspective of an | | | | himself from his friends, blows all his money, has |
| uneducated thirteen-year old with an awesome | | | | some sort of nervous breakdown, and even gets |
| sense of humor and zero interest in becoming | | | | beaten up by a pimp. |
| "civilised." The tale begins with Huck evading | | | | That being said, Catcher is hardly what you'd call |
| school, hygiene, and his adoptive mother only to | | | | plot-driven, causing some readers complain that |
| find himself on the run from the abuse of an | | | | the story is essentially a rambling diatribe on |
| infinitely worse father. After setting off down the | | | | Holden's pet peeves. The fact that modern-day |
| Mississippi river, he takes up with an escaped | | | | television and movies have bombarded us with |
| slave and... well, you know the rest. | | | | stimuli certainly doesn't help Holden's case. What |
| Which is kind of the problem; Huckleberry Finn has | | | | keeps us hooked, aside from Holden's lovable |
| become such a part of American consciousness | | | | combination of cynicism and naiveté, is his |
| that a lot of us don't bother to read it for | | | | incredible narrative voice. Whether making us |
| ourselves. If the fact that it's a smart and hilarious | | | | laugh out loud or pause to think, Holden speaks to |
| civil-rights novel with a surprisingly modern feel | | | | us like trusted friends - in conversational English |
| doesn't get you interested, maybe the history of | | | | peppered with slang, curse words, and |
| its publication will; upon its release, it was banned | | | | contradictions. In doing so, Holden works through |
| throughout the US and deemed "the veriest | | | | a few of his personal demons and makes more |
| trash" for its slang, irreverence, and vulgarity. As | | | | of a connection with the reader than he ever |
| any teen could have predicted, however, the | | | | manages to achieve in real life. |