UnBooks:Catcher in the Rye
“Wait, where is the goddamn ball!?”
Catcher in the Rye is a minor classic in Western literature, written by J.D. Salinger, and is loved by many. However, this is not due to any depth or good writing on its part. It is because of subliminal messages that brainwash millions today. Banned several times because of its vulgarity, many righteous Christians were aware of its evil. It uses the word "goddamn" 245 times. Holden Caulfield pursues a life of dirty sex, murder, and exposing young children to the horrors of the world. Impressionable youngsters feel they can relate to the protagonist and follow his example of terror, destruction, and questioning where the ducks go in the winter.
Perhaps the most famous of these impressionable people is Mark David Chapman, responsible for one of the worst crimes in American history: killing John Lennon of The Beatles. Chapman asked Lennon to sign his copy of the album Double Fantasy, but Lennon had a broken arm so he couldn't. Chapman, in a fit of rage, thought he was being a "phony" and went on a killing spree. It is well known that Chapman used the word "phony" very often, however it is not known what possessed him to use language as rare as such. Bill Gates, head demon and World's Greatest Evil, also likes the book, and Winona Ryder, who was arrested for committing such crimes as stealing, murder, and kitten huffing. The author himself is emotionally disturbed. He was half-Jewish, 75% Satanist and 666% recluse. In 1966 he died during a gruesome Satanic ritual (riding the carrousel), but rumour has it he only faked it and now lives in the streets of New York, hiding under cars and slashing people's ankles. Or possibly, as one scientist proposed, slashing people's cars, and hiding under people's ankles.
Plot summary[edit]
The book follows Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old boy living in 1950s Manhattan, as he navigates the problems and pressures associated with being a teen. The novel explores the following motifs: alienation and isolation; phoniness of society versus being "real" or authentic; loss of innocence; adolescent problems and pressures; and the ability (or inability) to adapt, change or "grow up". Salinger uses many interlinked symbols to convey these motifs including (but not limited to): falling (Allies glove, catcher in the rye, little shirley beans record) and catching, the carrousel (going round and round, but just for kids), the museum (everything is stuck in time), and Holden's hat (the same color as Phoebe and Allie's hair).