Creative Choice Project: Catcher in the Rye

Nonconformity Song; Holden talks a lot about the idea of being -phorand his frustrations
'*ith conformity. find a song that 'ooald act as Holden's theme song-- something that deals with
non-conformity. Print out the song lyics, annotate, and attach an explanation about hy this
song is something that resonates ',sith Iolden. Back up your explanation bith textual esdence.
Also, does the song resonate 'esithvon?
or %hy not?

Song Project Elements

Expectations

Song fits the description

of Holden's theme song
because it deals w,th
addressing phoniness
through non-conformity.

Theme of non-conformity (a ressing

phoniness) is clearly seen in the song
or clearly expressed through
annotation and explanation.

Pnnted brics are

annotated thoroughly

Annotations include highlighting or

Points/
Comments
3/3

underlining AND notes to the side of

identifying any figurative
the
language, expressive word choice, and
relation to theme.

Explanation is at least oneage

attached to the lyics page dswthlespacedmthTroxtz.MLS
(2). Explanation is insightful,

T:.ved explanation

and
tnosing bo ood the
offeringanalysis rather than
summary: or re

Addresses the questions:

dcs it resonate 'esith
Holden? Does it resonate
e.ithyou? VThyor 'ahy
not ?

Overall Comments:

Total Points:

tion (5).

Exp natlk. answershoi q es as

in an organized manner (3). Answers
about Holden are '.sxitten in third
person and offer textual esidence to
support answer (5) First person is
ONLYused v.hen answering the
question about self (2).

6KaY

can

Wake Up by Arcade Fire

My heart with nothin',

Somconc told me not to cry.

Now that I'm older,

My heart's colder,

0C

And I can sec that it's a lie.

Children wake up,

I lold your mistake up,
Before they turn the summer into dust.

If the children don't grow up,

Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We're just a million little god's causin' rain storms turnin'
I guess we'll just have to adjust.

With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'

I gon see where I am goin' to be
When the rea rhe reaches and touches my hand

With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'

I can see where I am goin'
With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'
I can see where I am go-going

You better look down below.

to rust.

S'Wake up" by Arcade Eire is a song about loss of innocence and Jetting f your troubles. The
songssciter is clearly traumatited by something he saw when he was younger. The author knows children
ill grow up and lose their innocence and he wants children to jet go of their troubles or else "our hearts
ill get torn up," This message in the song may resonate with Holden in that Holden still struggles
dealing with the loss of Allie. Additionally, the songwriter questions faith in God and faith in humanity.

le

s that he can "see it's a lie" and that "We're just a million little god's causin rain storms turnin'

every good thing to rust," lere it can be clearly seen that the writer thinks God is a lie and instead we
humans are all little gods that try to act phony and perfect like religion encourages. By "turnin' every
good thing to rust," we really are not innocent and instead mess everything up. Again, Holden would love
these lines because I lolden sees himself as an atheist of sorts and hates phoniness and loss of innocence.

Finally, an internal struggle can be seen in the songwriter, just like J{olden struggles. The writer, realizing
he has lost all faith, admits he will be going to hell. I lis believing in hell shows that he still may have faith
inside of himself and hopefully he can be saved. Holden once again will relate to these messages because
I lolden struggles internally as well and has lost a lot of faith. However, Holden also may still have some
faith inside of him as seen in the part of the book where Holden gives money to the nuns. Overall, this
song relates to "Catcher in the Rye" and Holden in many ways, but I didn't find that this song resonated
with me at all. I still have a lot of faith in humanity and in God. I don't have a lot of huge internal
struggles going on right now and so while these messages are interesting, they do not relate
to me much at
all.