“Life
Makes No Sense”
To Holden, life doesn’t make sense. He still does not understand why his brother Allie died or why his classmate James Castle committed suicide. He spends his life looking for someone to connect with, but at the same time, he isolates himself and shuts out the world. The song “Life Makes No Sense” by The Ataris illustrates many of the issues that Holden deals with, and offers advice to people like Holden to go on with life. The song describes Holden and what he thinks of life: “I just don't care/Are you looking for an answer?/When you still don't know the question… Sometimes when you feel afraid, don't give up and run away… The world's nothing but a lie…” It also gives up some advice about life to people in Holden’s position, much like Mr. Antolini tells Holden, “ ‘I think that one of these days,’ he said, ‘you’re going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you’ve got to start going there.’” (p.188). The song parallels this: “Sometimes life can be a pain/But don't give up without a fight… You don't need a destination just to go somewhere in life… Just cause' things aren't what they seem/It doesn't mean you shouldn't dream…”
“Blurry”
Holden feels that mostly everyone around him is phony. He refers to everyone as “phonies,” among the list are Stradlater, Sunny, the girls at the bar, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce. The song “Blurry” by Puddle of Mudd displays the motif of phoniness: “Everyone’s so fake/And everybody’s empty/And everything is so messed up…” Holden makes it clear that he wants to protect children from adult phoniness when he explains why he wants to be the “Catcher in the Rye.” He tells Phoebe, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.” (p. 173). He is deeply angered when he sees “Fuck You” written on the walls because it may take away the innocence of kids who see it, so he tries to get rid of it. The song reflects this: “You know that I’ll protect you/From all of the obscene…” Holden also can’t deal with change because when people change they lose innocence and become “phony.” The lyrics “Everything is changing/There’s no one left that’s real…” mirror this.
“Grow Up”
The Catcher in the Rye is
known as a bildungsroman, a coming of age story. Holden struggles with growing up. He does not want to shed the innocence of childhood to join
the adult world of what he considers “phoniness.” The scene in which Holden watches
Phoebe sleep shows that Holden wants to preserve his as well as other
kid’s childhoods: “She was laying there asleep… It’s
funny. You take adults, they look
lousy when they’re asleep and they have their mouths way open, but kids
don’t. Kids look
alright.” (p. 159). The song
“Grow Up” by Simple Plan is about simply refusing to grow up. The lyrics demonstrate that the author
wants to preserve his childhood:
“Until the day I die/I promise I
won’t change/So you better give up/I don't wanna be told to grow up/And I
don't wanna change…”
“I’m Just a Kid”
Holden experiences many of the
difficulties of being a kid and growing up throughout the story. More than once he is desperate to talk
to someone but can’t think of anyone to call. When he arrives at Penn Station, he says, “I felt like
giving somebody a buzz… but as soon as I was inside, I couldn’t
think of anybody to call up… so I ended up not calling anybody.”
(p. 59). Simple Plan’s
“I’m Just a Kid” echoes Holden’s feeling of rejection
and loneliness of not having anyone to talk to: “Waited
till 11/Just to figure out that no one would call/I think I got a lot of
friends but I don't hear from them/What's another night all alone?/When your
spending everyday on you own…” Holden is overcome by isolation and depression because he
cannot fit in anywhere, with anyone.
The song reflects this, “What the f*ck is wrong with me?/Don't fit
in with anybody/How did this happen to me?”
“When I’m With
You”
Jane Gallagher is a character
constantly on Holden’s mind.
She is his childhood friend, and to him she is the epitome of
innocence. He was always happy and
felt real when he was with her, and the novel is his journey to find a
relationship similar to the one he had with her. He says of their relationship, “Right away we’d
start holding hands… and without changing the position or making a big
deal out of it. You never even
worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or hot. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were.” (p. 79). He
always thinks about her but never attempts to contact her, even though he has
several opportunities. The song
“When I’m With You” by Simple Plan echoes Holden’s
feelings for Jane. “I wanna feel the way you make me feel when I'm with you/I
wanna be the only hand, you need to hold on to…” and “For
nothing at all/I know there’s a million reasons/Why I shouldn't call/With
nothing to say/Could easily make this conversation last all day…”
reflect Holden’s situation with Jane perfectly.
“You Don’t Mean
Anything”
Holden constantly isolates himself
from everyone around him. He
categorizes everyone as “phony” and refuses to open up to anyone
even though he seeks to interact with others. The song “You Don’t Mean Anything”
indicates Holden’s feelings about the outside world, and his feelings
about most people save a few “innocents.” The lyrics illustrate Holden’s horrified view of the
way people act: “And maybe I just don't wanna
know/How low you're ready to go/I'm not gonna change/You can't make me/You
don't mean anything to me/You're what I never want to be…” Holden does not want to be influenced
by adults that he considers “phony” so he declines help from them.
Holden
grapples with the fact that he is alone.
He strives to make a connection with other people but always fails. These failed attempts reoccur
throughout the novel to the point where he is desperate for company a few too
many times. He begs Carl to stay
with him even though it is clear Carl does not want to be there, “‘Have
just one more drink,’ I told him. ‘Please. I’m lonesome as hell. No kidding.’ He said he couldn’t do it,
though. He said he was late now,
and then he left.” (p. 149).
Oleander’s “I Walk Alone” displays the repeating theme
of loneliness: “I can't take this anymore/And I'm almost pretty sure/I've
been here before/I can't take this any longer… now I walk alone, yeah/I
walk alone, yeah…”
Holden is
always let down by other people, and ultimately he feels let down by life. His failure to interact with others,
his brother Allie’s death, and the suicide of one of his former
classmates contribute to his dismal outlook on humankind and life. The song “Life” by Our Lady
Peace is about life’s difficulties in general. This would be a good song to dedicate to Holden because its
message is that no matter how much “bad” there is in the world, and
despite how badly life may treat you sometimes, you should always go on with
your life. It reminds me of the
quote Mr. Antolini told Holden to live by, “ ‘The mark of an
immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the
mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.’” (p.
188). The song deals with issues
that relate to Holden: “How many times have you been pushed around?/Was
anybody there?/Does anybody care?/How many time have your friends let you
down?/Was anybody there?”
The lyrics urge people to open up and to go on living, which I feel
Holden needs to learn to do, “Just open up your heart/Just open up your
mind… Oh, Life is waiting for you/So messed up, but we're alive/Oh, Life
is waiting for you/So messed up, but we'll survive…”
“The
Little Things”
One of Holden’s interesting qualities is his
ability to notice details. When he
tells Stradlater what he remembers about Jane, rather than her appearance or
hobbies he identifies her as his friend that he played checkers with when he
was younger. He describes, “
‘Yeah. She wouldn’t
move any of her kings. What
she’d do, when she’d get a king, she wouldn’t move it. She’d just leave it in the back
row. She’d get them all
lined up in the back row. Then
she’d never use them. She
just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back
row.’” (p. 31-32).
When he thinks about her, he can’t get it out of his mind that she
did this, and this causes him to break down when facing the fact that she may
not be the innocent girl who doesn’t move her kings that she used to
be. “The Little
Things” by Good Charlotte reflect the effect of details on Holden:
“The little things, little things, they always hang around/The little
things, little things, they try to break me down/The little things, little
things, they just won't go away/The little things, little things, made me who I
am today…” Holden lets
“little things” overcome his thoughts and feelings.
Throughout
the novel, Holden makes it clear that he is disgusted by people’s
behavior. Although he is wealthy,
he classifies everyone as “phony,” and refers to the boys in his
boarding schools as phony, hotshot rich kids, and the alum that made a
contribution to the school as phony.
He explains that the well-off kids that have been his classmates are so
greedy that they steal even though they have money. He states, “Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very
wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has
– I’m not kidding.” (p. 4). He also expresses his loathing of the movies, Hollywood, the
Lunts – and everything related to fame. Good Charlotte’s song “Lifestyles of the Rich
and Famous” conveys Holden’s feelings about the rich and the
famous. The lyrics, “If they
could spend a day or two/While being in someone else’s shoes/I think
they'd stumble and they'd fall/They would fall… Lifestyles of the rich
and the famous/They’re always complainin, always complainin/If money is
such a problem, well they got mansions/Think we should rob them…”
display feelings of contempt and mockery of the greediness of wealthy people.
“Don’t
Change”
Holden cannot cope with
change. One obvious example is
that he finds comfort in the Museum of Natural History because it remains the
same. He says, “The best
thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it
was,” (p. 121) and “Certain things should stay the way they
are. You ought to be able to stick
them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.” (p.
122). His inability to deal with
change stems from his desire to preserve innocence and maintain childhood. The song “Don’t Change”
by the Goo Goo Dolls reflects something that Holden might want to say to
someone he considers innocent and vulnerable, maybe someone like Jane or
Phoebe: “Don't change for you/Don't change a
thing/For me…”
“Long Way Down”
Holden’s problems all cause him to spiral down into a state of depression. Mr. Antolini predicts that Holden is on the way to taking a terrible fall. He explains, “ ‘This fall I think you’re riding for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement’s designed for men who… were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with… So they gave up looking.” (p. 187) The song “Long Way Down” makes me think of the fall that Mr. Antolini described. The lyrics echo Holden’s thoughts and feelings of loneliness and fear of falling: “Long way down/I don't think I'll make it on my own /Long way down/I don't want to live in here alone/Long way down/I don't think I'll make it on my own…”
“Alone”
Throughout the novel, one of
Holden’s main problems is his loneliness. His life is a quest to find someone, anyone, with whom to
connect. Holden’s solitude
and failure to interact with others lead him to spiral into depression and feelings
of suicide. He often makes
reference to his aloneness. Out on
the city streets alone at night he says, “What made it worse; it was so
quiet and lonesome out, even though it was Saturday night… it makes you
feel lonesome and depressed.” (p. 81). Ben Harper’s song “Alone” reflects
Holden’s feeling of isolation.
Holden’s suicide feelings go along with the lyrics, “I
don’t want to live/I don’t want to live alone/Alone…” When his brother Allie dies, Holden
alienates himself by retreating to the garage. He says, “I slept in the garage the night he dies, and
I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.”
(p. 39). The song echoes this
event: “This empty room it fills my mind…
Every single wall has cracked…” The lyrics “I don’t even know myself
inside” mirror how Holden sometimes feels.