Rejection from the World

Dear Holden Caufield,

You will never be able to live in me. You will not be able to function and live. You can't even function and live in your own world let alone me. Your constant complaining and dramatics will not fare well in me. People will exclude you from everything and not want to be associated with you. All you do is pity and feel sorry for other people because of stupid minute flaws that are not really flaws because they are so little! When in fact, the rest of the world should be pitying you because you are literally insane! Your pathological lying proves your insanity. You tell people lies for the sake of lying. You not only lie, but you enjoy lying and actually tend to believe your lies. These lies are totally uncalled for too. Like the one you told to the poor mother about her son. You raised her hopes and perception of her son for no apparent reason. You set her up to have her heart broken once she finds out all you told her was a lie. The few minutes of joy and pride you granted her will turn into months of disappointment. The people in me do not accept lying. Lying is surely punished directly and socially. Lying will only cause people to flee from you. That is why your existence in me would not bring joy and happiness, but only uselessness and will only be a waste. You would also not be able to live in me because of your mental state. In 1949, sickness of the mind could not be explained easily, therefore people who really were insane went living in the world as a normal person. I am totally different. Insanity is something that can be identified and treated quickly and harshly. An insane person in me would be immediately be thrust into a special institute or asylum until they are pronounced sane. Holden, you are far past help and cure, therefore you would be one of the people who will spend the rest of their days in an asylum! To sum it all up, you will not and never be able to live in me because of the way your are.
From,
The World of 2008

Phonies Galore

Dear Holden,

Something you would absolutely hate in the world I live in would be how normal people glorify celebrities and professional athletes. In the world I live in, athletes are looked upon as the perfect people. Professional athletes are thrown into the limelight thanks to their amazing physical skills and abilities. Once there, they are looked upon by normal people as great almost immortal people who are stronger and faster than everyone else. Society does not care for their personalities or opinions, just their athletic output and accomplishments at the end of the day. Then there are the celebrities. Celebrities are glorified thanks to their images and personas on the big screen. They are supposedly perfect people, but unlike athletes, they are given personalities. It is usually one that immolates their played characters. For instance, Sean Connery played James Bond, the ultimate handsome and smart spy for years. Normally, when a regular person sees Sean Connery, his James Bond movie comes to mind and they imagine him as a handsome and suave kind of guy. For all the normal person knows, he could be a total phony in real life. He could be cruel and have an ugly personality. The horrible truth is that, Sean Connery is only one person that could be emulating a false persona. There are probably millions of celebrities that are horrible people behind their amazing persona. These people are like Cary Grant to you. He's handsome and debonair in his movies, but could be the exact opposite of that in real life. Your hatred of the phoniness of actors can easily be transferred to proffesional athletes, in the world I live in. Athletes and Celebrities are the same type of people in the world I live in. They both constantly are in the limelight and minds of the normal people. Their abilites propel them into stardom no matter what their personality is in real life. Their athletic accomplishments brainwash the public into thinking they are perfect, as in nice, polite, and respectful people. But some proffesional athletes are exactly the opposite of that. Some, like Michael Vick, spend their weekends hosting malicious and inhumane dogfights, or others, like Mike Tyson, spend their days beating their wives. Once their flaws are out in the public, they try to hide behind their accomplishments, until the public soon forgets. As you can see, the world I live in is filled with your most hated objects. Phonies!!

From, Seth Bynum

Holden's Memories

Maine

Holden Caufield spent summers in Maine. The only bright spots in the book are when Holden refers to his pleasant experiences in Maine. When Stradlater tells Holden that he is going on a date with Jane, Holden begins to reminisce about the time he spent in Maine with Jane. He remembers playing checkers with her and how she was a dancer. He even remembers small details like, "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 have it in the back row." Since Holden remembers these intense details about his younger life in Maine, that must mean he is desperately holding on too them because those were the only truly happy moments of his life.

Cary Grant

Cary Grant was a popular actor during the time Catcher in the Rye takes place. He is in this image montage because he is one of the people Holden characterize as a phony. Holden calls everyone a phony. To him a phony is a person who acts a certain way to give off a certain image, but really is not or the exact opposite of the image they are trying to obtain. This word, phony, is in this book over a million times. he calls everyone who seems to be going through or having a better life than he is. Which is really everyone in the book.

Fish

Fish are an important part symbol of the book because of a brief conversation Holden had with a taxi cab driver. Holden asks the driver if he knows where the ducks in central park go. The taxi cab driver sternly answers back saying who cares. He then goes on talking about the fish in the pond at central. He says that the fish have it tougher because they have to stay in the pond no matter how the weather changes, while the ducks just fly away. The ducks symbolize Holden while the fish symbolize a regular person. A regular person must adapt and accept all change within their life. While Holden, the duck, flies and runs away from change.

A Phony World: The Catcher in the Rye Soundtrack

1. Baba O'Riley- The Who 5:08
   


2. Fake it- Seether 3:12
   


3. Homecoming- Kanye West

Baba O'Riley- The Who

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven

Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only teenage wasteland

Sally, take my hand
We'll travel south cross land
Put out the fire and don't look past my shoulder
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let's get together before we get much older

Teenage wasteland
It's only teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland, oh yeah
Teenage wasteland
They're all wasted

Overview:

This song would be perfect for the Catcher in the Rye Soundtrack. Baba O'Riley by The Who signifies Holden Caufield's experience in New York City in Catcher in the Rye. Written in the first verse is "Out here in the fields. I fight for my meals." These "fields" in the song are like New York City. Usually, a field is a wide open space or area. New York City is a city engulfed with buildings and skyscrapers, but is still wide open and vast in size like a field would be. The song also says "I fight for my meals." Fighting for meals could also mean fighting to survive as what Holden is doing in the great "field" of New York City. Later in the song the words, "Teenage Wasteland" are repeated and the ending line is "They're all wasted." These lines are exactly what Holden thinks of the people in New York City. Throughout the book, he continuously says things like "I feel sorry for them sometimes." Holden's treats people like they are a waste of a person. The song also says, "Don't cry." This is almost a suggestion for Holden to act while in New York City. He is always crying about something and should just stop and calm down. The perfect spot Bab O'Riley could be played would be the sequence when Holden arrives in New York City and looks around at the buildings and people.

Fake it- Seether
Who's to know if your soul will fade at all
The one you sold to fool the world
You lost your self esteem along the way

Good god, you're comin' up with reasons
Good god, you're draggin' it out
Good god, it's the changin' of the seasons
I feel so raped
So follow me down...

And just fake it if you're out of direction
Fake it if you don't belong here
Fake it if you feel like infection
Whoa, you're such a f**kin' hypocrite

And you should know that the lies won't hide your flaws
No sense in hiding all of yours
You gave up on your dreams along the way

Good god, you're comin' up with reasons
Good god, you're draggin' it out
Good god, it's the changin' of the seasons
I feel so raped
So follow me down...

And just fake it, if you're out if direction
Fake it, if you don't belong here
Fake it, if you feel like infection

Whoa, you're such a f**kin' hypocrite
Whoa, whoa

I can fake it with the best of anyone
I can fake it with the best of 'em all
I can fake it with the best of anyone
I can fake it all

Who's to know if your soul will fade at all
The one you sold to fool the world
You lost your self esteem along the way

Good god, you're comin' up with reasons
Good god, you're draggin' it out
Good god, it's the changin' of the seasons
I feel so raped man
Follow me down...

And just fake it, if you're out of direction
Fake it if you don't belong here
Fake it if you feel like infection
Whoa, you're such a f**kin' hypocrite

Fake it if you're out of direction
Fake it if you don't belong here
Fake it if you feel like infection
Whoa, you're such a f**kin' hypocrite

Overview:

The gist of Fake it by Seether is that there are fake people in our world. This is constantly said by Holden Caufiled throughout the whole book. He describes everyone he meets as "phony". The song describes these fake or "phony" people as people who have lost their self esteem and always changing their self for other people. Holden Caufield's criteria for a phony is anyone who seems better or is doing better than him. When in reality, Holden is the real phony because he is always lying and giving off a false persona. This song could be played as Holden is packing and leaving Pency Prep. It would be played even when he is walking down the hallway of the Diormitory screaming and crying.

Homecoming- Kanye West

Yeah

And you say Chi city

Chi city, Chi city

I'm comin' home again

Do you think about me now and then?

Do you think about me now and then?

'Cause I'm comin' home again, comin' home again

I met this girl when I was three years old

And what I love most she had so much soul

She said, "Excuse me, little homie, I know you don't know me

But my name is Wendy and I like to blow trees"

And from that point I never blow her off

N****s come from outta town, I like to show her off

They like to act tough, she like to tow 'em off

And make' em straigten up their act 'cause she know they soft

And when I grew up she showed me how to go downtown

And at nighttime my face lit up, so astounding

And I told her in my heart is where she always be

She never mess with entertainers 'cause they always leave

She said it felt like they walked and drove on me

Knew I was gang affiliated, got on TV and told on me

I guess it's why last winter she got so cold on me

She said, Ye keep makin' that, keep makin' that platinum and gold for me

(I'm comin' home again)

Do you think about me now and then?

Do you think about me now then?

'Cause I'm comin' home again, comin' home again

Do you think about me now and then?

Do you think about me now and then?

Oh, now I'm comin' home again

Maybe we could start again

But if you really cared for her

Then you would never hit the airport

to follow your dream, sometimes I still talk to her

But when I talk to her, it always seems like she talkin' about me

She said, "You left your kids and they just like you

They wanna rap and make soul beats just like you

But they just not you and I just got through

Talkin' 'bout what n****s tryin' to do just not new"

Now everybody got the game figured out all wrong

I guess you never know what you got till it's gone

I guess this is why I'm here and I can't come back home

And guess when I heard that when I was back home

Every interview I'm representin' you, makin you proud

Reach for the stars so if you fall you land on a cloud

Jump in the crowd, spark your lighters, wave 'em around

And if you don't know by now, I'm talkin about Chi town

(I'm comin' home again)

Do you think about me now and then?

Do you think about me now and then?

'Cause I'm comin' home again, comin' home again

Baby, do you remember when fireworks at Lake Michigan?

Oh, now I'm comin' home again, coming home again

Baby do you remember when fireworks at Lake Michigan?

Oh, now I'm comin' home again, comin' home again

Maybe we could start again

Overview:

Homecoming by Kanye West is a song about a young boy falling in love at a very young age. The young boy lost that love because of his own poor decisions. This is exactly what happened between Holden and Jane. Holden met Jane in Maine and fell in love with her. Before he knew it Jane was gone. She then appears back in his life when Stradlater, Holden's conceited roommate, begins to date her and supposedly have sexual relations with her. This brings Jane back to the mind of Holden. Now it seems he cannot stop thinking about her even though he is in New York City surrounded by so many distractions. Homecoming could be played whenever Holden is thinking or reminiscing about Jane or Maine.