Subject: Re: The whole Lennon thing
From: Jonathan Moritz (Jonathan.Moritz@educ.utas.edu.au)
Date: Tue Feb 11 1997 - 22:55:01 GMT
>Let me simply say this for starters, I think this matter falls in the
>category with every mother who tries to blame rock music for a child's death
>or suicide....
The strongest (? or most lengthy!?) case I have heard for associating
Catcher with violence is presented in the movie "Six Degrees of
Separation". The protagonist in the movie quotes from the book at length
(with page refs) the bits about:
* Holden's red hunting cap featured through the novel: 'This is a people
shooting hat,' I said. 'I shoot people in this hat.'
* "I'd rather push a guy out the window or chop his head off with an axe
than sock him in the jaw. I hate fist fights"
The guy in the movie goes on to try to link it with wider themes of 'youth
today'.
>Sorry if this sounds like hyper defensive hot air, but I have defended
>Salinger a lot to others who simply say "Oh yeah the guy who killed Lennon,
>he was wacked out on Catcher in the Rye or something"
I don't think it's hyper defensive at all, Kevin. I think we do need to
argue the case for Holden, and for the role of literature more generally.
Many of us bananafish may adore or model outselves on Holden, and even
those who mentioned a few weeks ago that as they aged they started to feel
a bit more distant from Holden's views, I think we still all feel Holden
knows which way is up. In response to banning Catcher (or Huck Finn), we
need to encourage people to see through (or in) his mischieve to the heart
of what Holden does hold dear.
Jonathan.
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