Discussing The Song 'Catcher In The Rye By Guns N' Roses

The song “Catcher in the Rye” by Guns N’ Roses is a perfect representation of the novel, not only by the title, but also throughout the lyrics. The lyrics include, “The Catcher in the Rye again ooh/ Won't let ya get away from him/ It's just another day like today.” These are apt words because it references the “job” Holden wants later in life, which is being a catcher in the rye. The song overall talks about being crazy and lonesome, which is what Holden feels in most of the book. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield’s New York odyssey leads to his dark fall.

Ultimately, those who rejected Holden lead him to collapse. For example, Caulfield tells us, “I left all the foils and equipment and stuff [for the fencing team]

on the goddam subway… The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train” (Salinger 3).

This quote is being told as Holden is standing at the top of Thomsen Hill, after coming back from New York with the fencing team. Here we see Holden’s very first rejection, where he forgot the equipment on the subway and was ignored the whole way back to Pencey by the team. Furthermore, Holden writes, “Would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?’ I [Holden] said… ‘I ain’t got no time for no liquor bud,’ he [the cab driver Horwitz] said” (83). Here, Horwitz is driving Caulfield to Ernie’s. They were discussing where the ducks go during the winter and Holden asked Horwitz, if he would get a drink with him, but Horwitz rejected him, unkindly. Now it is shown how Holden just wants someone to really talk to him and spend time with him. Later on, the sixteen year old begs Luce, “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” (149). This quotation shows Holden wanting the old Student Advisor at Whooton School, to stay and keep talking to him at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel, but Luce had refused and left. This was a major breaking point for Holden, he had finally admitted to someone that he was lonely and just wanted a friend. He had shown a little bit of vulnerability for the first time, but was again forsaken. In the end, Holden being rejected would foreshadow him losing his sanity.
Unfortunately, Holden’s fall was foreshadowed from the beginning.

Firstly, Caulfield tells us, “How would you [Sally] like to get the hell out of here? Here’s my idea. I know this guy down in Greenwich Village that we can borrow his car for a couple of weeks… What we could do is tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, and all around there see. It’s beautiful as hell up there. It really is” (132). Holden is asking Sally to run away to the woods with him. This shows Holden losing his sanity because he is basically asking her if he could kidnap her and hide out in the woods forever, which is completely insane. He does not even like her at all, only her body. Secondly, the lonesome boy tells us, “I was the only guy at the bar with a bullet in their guts. I kept putting my hand under my jacket, on my stomach and all, to keep the blood from dripping all over the place. I didn’t want anybody to know I was even wounded. I was concealing the fact that I was ever wounded sonuvabitch” (150). In this quotation, Holden was really drunk at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel and pretended to be injured and dying. This is crazy because out of nowhere he started to act strangely as if he was shot even though he was only drunk. The occupants of the bar must have thought he was deranged. Thirdly, D.B.’s younger brother reveals to us, “I [Holden] was getting soaked. About a gallon of water was dripping down my neck, getting all over my collar and tie and all, but I

didn’t give a damn. I was too drunk to give a damn” (152). Here Holden was in the men’s room, next to a radiator, and just splashed his face with water. This shows his madness because he was purposely getting wet when he could have dried himself. Also, if he was “extremely” drunk he would not have remembered this moment and drunk people do not regularly sit still and stay wet. Overall, Holden had become so unhinged that even fun activities made him depressed.
As a matter of fact, Caulfield soon found entertaining activities in New York City melancholy. For instance, he informs us, “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies.”(2). In this quote, Holden is describing how D.B. left to go to Hollywood to become a movie writer and that he hates movies. This is fun because many people visit and move to Hollywood to go see movie premieres and see the movie stars. A lot of people also like the excitement and action in the movies. In addition, Caulfield mentions, “If somebody, some girl in an awful-looking hat, for instance come all the way to New York from Seattle, Washington, for God’s sake-and ends up getting up early in the morning to see the goddam first show at Radio City Music Hall, it makes me so depressed I can’t stand it” (75). In this excerpt, Holden was describing how miserable he gets when he sees the three girls from the bar, leaving, so they can get up early to go see a show at the Radio City Music Hall the next morning. Radio City Music Hall is suppose to be a very popular, famous, and fun tourist attraction, where people go to dance and sing. Similarly, Caulfield notes, “He was putting all these show-offy ripples in the high notes, and a lot of other very tricky stuff that gives me a pain in the ass. You should’ve heard the crowd, though, when he was finished. You would’ve puked. They went mad”(84). In this scene, Holden just got inside Ernie’s and saw a big crowd silently watching Ernie play a song on the piano, professionally. Someone playing the piano so smoothly usually makes people stare in awe and many people enjoy this type of small concert. It is quite soothing for most, except Holden. Nonetheless, Holden truly lost connection with real life in Chapter 25.
Moreover, Holden definitely disregarded the tie with reality in Chapter 25. For one thing, Allie’s older brother states, “I looked exactly like the guy in the article with lousy hormones. So I started getting worried about my hormones. Then I read this other article about how you can tell if you have cancer or not. It said if you had any sores in your mouth that didn’t heal pretty quickly, it was a sign that you probably had cancer. I’d had this sore inside of my lip for about two weeks. So I figured I was getting cancer”(195-196). After leaving Mr. Antolini’s house, Holden goes to Grand Central and starts reading some magazines next to the benches. They get him worried that he has cancer and poor hormones. This shows that he has lost it because out of nowhere he thinks he is going to die very soon because he thinks he has cancer. Additionally, Caulfield continues, “Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street...Every time I’d get to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I’d say to him, ‘Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear…’”(198). Here the sixteen year old is walking and he had a feeling that he would never get to the other side and starts talking to his dead brother, Allie, telling him not to let him disappear. This especially shows Holden losing touch with the world because he is out in the middle of the night, walking down each street, and telling his dead brother to keep him from disappearing. Besides this, Holden tells us, “I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes… Everybody’d think I was a poor deaf-mute bastard and they’d leave me alone. They’d let me put gas and oil in their stupid cars, and they’d pay me a salary and all for it, and I’d build me a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and live there for the rest of my life”(198-199). Holden is here sitting on a bench, thinking of pretending to become a deaf-mute, so he would not have to have conversations with anyone. People would have to write what they want to say to him on a piece of paper, in which they would eventually get tired of doing and leave him alone. This shows he is finally insane because he could have a very good life and education, but instead he fantasizes about living in isolation and not having to have phony conversations with anyone, Finally, Holden has completely lost his sanity.
In conclusion, the novel ended with Holden losing his mind and having to be sent away to an asylum to be treated. It was not very surprising to find that so many artists had written songs about this iconic book. It had touched so many hearts that it is honored by music. In my opinion, this book was incredible and relatable. It is a classic piece of art that attracts both teenagers and adults. The author had written it so intricately that no matter where someone starts from it goes in a full circle from the beginning to the end. The colloquial style of writing was truly exquisite and creative.