In pursuit of authenticity: Why Holden Caulfield matters in 2026
I’m not going to lie, as an English teacher, I haven’t had much use for The Catcher in the Rye in the past few decades. Although I definitely revered it as a teenager, as a teacher working toward a more equitable — and ethical — literary canon, I have come to think of Catcher as just another “classic” novel written by a certain kind of author about a certain kind of life, which my students have certainly read enough about. Instead, my book choices for my students have tended toward diverse and female authors, with characters and ideas that speak to my students’ multitude of identities and experiences.
Maybe because I ran across a couple of boxes of new copies in the book closet last spring, or maybe because I was already thinking about my goal to go a little bit more old school this year (less internet, more pen and paper) I decided to give ol’ Catcher a try for the summer reading assignment for my incoming seniors.
Now, let me start by saying what I know to be true about summer reading: Some kids do it and some kids don’t. The trick as a teacher is to both signal the importance of independent reading and reward the efforts of the kids who did it, but also understand and acknowledge that there are many reasons kids don’t do it and some of those reasons are conflated with the kinds of socioeconomic and cultural factors that frequently influence education outcomes. My pedagogy, then, favors a democratic approach in which even the kids who did not read the book still have something to gain by becoming familiar with the ideas explored in the book.
To that end, I decided to lean into a conversation about the book as both a piece of important literature and a cultural artifact. For the past two weeks, I’ve required my students to take hand-written notes as we talk about the style of the book, the big ideas Salinger explores and the unique place this novel has occupied in our collective imagination for more than 75 years. It’s been a good start to the school year and honestly, I’ve been a little shocked at how much this book resonated with my students. In each of my five classes, students have consisently identified themes of lonliness, alienation and grief and have noted Holden’s despair about the pervasive “phoniness” he sees in the world. Students have researched the context of the book and have easily made connections between how teenagers might have felt in the early 1950s and how teenagers might feel now. Even though some of the language seemed a little archaic, students were quick to grasp the idea of what Salinger meant by the word phony and it wasn’t long before my students were able to apply it to the confusing —and often deceiptful — world we live in now.
Today, as my students shuffle through their notes and put pen to paper to write their first major essay of the year, I feel inspired to do a little writing of my own — and maybe reflect on some of my takeaways from this unit.
Although I really didn’t plan it, the fact that the main theme of this book happened to coincide with the main theme of my class this year was a major win. Like many educators in 2026, this year I am emphasizing authenticity above all else, especially as it pertains to student writing and thinking. I have spent the first two weeks of school explaining to my students that while they may find AI useful in some spheres of their lives, there is no place for AI in my classroom. I emphasize how AI degrades their ability to reason and to think critically and how using it for writing undermines their ability to be original and authentic.
This conversation about authenticity naturally flows into a dialogue about the process of thinking and writing. By giving students credit for their notes and their active engagement in the conversation, not only do I begin to shift their efforts, but I also begin to shift their thinking. In a world that suggests that the end always justifies the means, I remind them that the means matters. Not only do I help them to cultivate good work habits, but I also give them time and space to think and to wonder and to follow their own curiosity. I say aloud that I love when the conversation goes a little off topic to connect to their lives and I emphasize that the best experiences — in school and in life — often happen when we take our focus off the final destination and try to be thoroughly present for the journey.
The downside: It’s damn near impossible to do any kind of research on the internet without encountering AI. I discuss this with my students at length and again, give them guidance about how to utilize the information they glean from Google’s “AI Overview.” My suggestion is for them to use the overview, but always check its validity by researching the bullet points individually. If they do end up utilizing the information for an essay, I insist that they have read it carefully and taken the time to put it into their own words.
Finally, I was reminded that The Catcher in the Rye still does what good books do: It makes us feel something human and universal. While it was nearly eight decades ago that Holden wandered around New York City thoroughly alienated by a modern world that seemed superficial and disingenous, it’s not too difficult to imagine that today’s teenagers might just understand that feeling.
