Imagine all the phonies

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR about why I chose this topic, I will have to bore you with my story. As a die-hard fan of true crime, I have often stumbled upon biographies of murderers who state that The Catcher in the Rye inspired them in some way to commit terrible acts. Naturally, morbid curiosity led me to become interested in getting my hands on this book, in hopes of becoming a killer myself. Don’t worry though: I wouldn’t have the guts to become one given that I flinch at the mere sight of blood and I’m probably too lazy to fully commit to what seems to be a full-time, no-pay job. Anyways, I picked the next best thing and soon I will be a teacher. Yay!

To my surprise, when I read the book a few years ago, I didn’t kill anyone, nor did I feel the urge to do so. I just felt that magical tingling feeling of falling in love with a book. I really did. Back then, when I read for pleasure, I had the time for looking up information about every aspect of the novel: its author, its interpretations, its role in popular culture, and the list goes on and on. My appetite was so voracious that not even Wikipedia satisfied all my needs. Picture that in these times.

Anyways, listen. Now I’m going to analyze some points that I find most appealing in connection with a murder case that was briefly mentioned in class.  

On March 4^th, 1966, John Lennon said that his band was more popular than Jesus. An unfortunate declaration that would lead Mark David Chapman, a deeply unstable committed Christian, to shoot him dead on December 8^th, 1980. Chapman was also a Beatles fan, but he just couldn’t get over that statement, and the line “Imagine there’s no Heaven” in Lennon’s famous song really pissed him off. He was even said to sing “Imagine, imagine John Lennon is dead” with his prayer group. On the day of the shooting, he was found reading The Catcher in the Rye, novel on which he had developed an obsession that sort of justified his acts, and this can be explained on different levels.

Lennon signing an autograph for Chapman six hours before the shooting

First of all, Holden Caulfield’s reliability as a narrator is not strong, given that he shows certain inconsistencies in his narration, and his story has limitations associated to telling a story from an individual viewpoint. For example, Holden depicts his History teacher as a mean old man, but through old Spencer’s words, we can see real concern for Holden’s well-being. But, aren’t we all like this? I mean, don’t we all twist the truth to fit our views? This is exactly what Chapman did. From his perspective, John Lennon was a terrible man and he was going to do something about it.

Furthermore, Holden is a teen who is irritated by phoniness and hypocrisy because, in his mind, they destroy the innocence of the world. Throughout the novel, this leads him to portray a cynical attitude while trying to maintain his innocence and to feel connected with the world. Holden wants to preserve innocence so much that he imagines himself as a catcher in the rye, that saves children from falling into the abyss of all the hypocrisy that adulthood leads to. Towards the end of the novel, Holden goes to his sister Pheobe’s school and sees “fuck you” written on the wall. This drives him crazy because little kids like his sister would see it and start losing their innocence. This is mimicked by Chapman, who saw Lennon as a phony that wrote lines such as “imagine no possessions”, but had tons of them. Also, the musician’s anti-religion stand made Chapman worry about future generations that could follow him. Lennon was a big fuck you to Chapman, and he had to do something about it. He really did. Then, during his sentencing, the killer read a passage of the book, precisely the one about Holden’s fantasy of catching children.

So, even though Holden Caulfield says that he could beat up the guy who wrote “fuck you” on the wall, he isn’t literal about it. Just like when he talks about his people killing hat. I think that Chapman, with a little help of his unstable mental state, misinterpreted the book in a way that would fit his distorted conception of the world. In his mind, all of this makes perfect sense: let’s get rid of all the phonies so religion continues to make the world a better place. That just kills me.

I’ll just wrap up this entry with a quote from that goddamn interview that made Chapman plot John Lennon’s murder. It goes like this: “Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.” And these words came back to haunt him when Jesus’ follower took his life.

References

Salinger, J. D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye. New York.

Schultz, L. (2001). March 4th, 1966: The Beginning of the End for John Lennon?. Retrieved from: http://infidels.org/kiosk/article/march-4th-1966-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-john-lennon-73.html#_ednref30