Hope he knew the Lord.
I prefer books that promote purity to children, something we are in short supply of in this country and have been for 40 to 50 years. CS Lewis’ Narnia books. I think it’s a shame teens are forced to read Catcher in the Rye. Yuck.
If you want gritty give them Lord of the Flies. At least that shows kids what Jesus taught, that man in inherently evil at his core.
Is that what Jesus taught?
I did my term paper for English 1A on Lord of the Flies. I loved the symbolism. The book certainly contains strong Calvinist themes. However, I cannot agree that Jesus taught that man evil at the core. Why would God send His 'Only Begotten Son' to suffer for beings evil at the core? How could salvation be possible for humanity?
Original sin doesn't mean 'evil at the core'. Man was made in God's image, fell into error, so God in his infinite love sent a Christ Savior to remind us of who we really are, Sons and Daughters of the Divine.
Zooey (posing as Seymour) tells Franny that Jesus is the fat lady. Sounds an awful lot like doing to the least of these is doing to Him. I would definitely say he knew the Lord.