Andres Flores

Period 7
June 18, 2013
Catcher in the Rye essay
1. What role does The Catcher in the Rye play in several high-profile assassinations or
assassination attempts (John Lennon, Ronald Reagan, Rebecca Shaeffer)? How might
the book have influenced the culprits?


The catcher in the rye is a book that expresses a lot of different ideas and views of society.
There are some theories that say that some killings are based on this book, such as the killings
are about the ones of John Lennon,Ronald Reagan and Rebecca Shaeffer. This book talks about
phonies which are considered false people. These people who were murdered were considered
phony people and the killers had supposed reasons to kill them. The question that needs to
be answered is why is this book the influence of those killings?
Mark David Chapman was the person who killed John Lennon, the singer of The Beatles. He was
born in Texas in 1955, he did not have a happy life; he was scared of his father that was in the
army. His teenage years were hard; he consumed drugs and ran away from his house. But he
was a big fan of The Beatles. What made Chapman furious was the remark that Lennon said in
1966 wich was that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. He got histerical at Lennon for being
in a such way a phony or false person. He was a person that seemed to be very sensitive in
these kind of situations. Mark David Chapman, the young assassin, was carrying two things
with him when he shot and killed John Lennon on the steps of the Dakota apartments in
Manhattan: a pistol and a paperback copy of The Catcher in the Rye.
The book might have influenced in his killing in a way that made Chapman realize that phony
people or people that were becoming phony do not have to exist anymore. Grand. There's a
word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it. This quote was said by Holden
saying his opinion about phony people. In some ways he is right because phony people just
cause more negative things in society. Holdens point of view is specific and exemplified of what
he thinks about phony people as Immaterial things practically, nor as good people.
There exist a relationship between Chapman and Holden, which are the views that they have of
the people. Both of them saw phony people as an interference or as an obstacle for society to
improve. Holden was a good person, gentle and efficient while Chapman was very cold, did not
know how to react to situations like the one he had with John Lennon, that makes him a killer
while Holden stayed as the hero of the novel for being patient, nonchalant, and intelligent at
the moment of acting. Chapman felt inside him that part of him was Holden as this quote of his
statement says "I'm sure the large part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the
book. The small part of me must be the Devil."
To conclude, the murder of John Lennon was a very sad moment for many people in the world.
For Mark Chapman was like a satisfaction, he thought that he was another phony person and by
getting rid of that kind of people the world was going to change and phony people will
disappear for always. But he did not considered the measure of what he was doing, he let an
addiction consume all him and became a killer and a moron thanks to that, he assumed that to
achieve Holdens ideal of a world without phony people he had to kill that people. But in my
opinion I think that he went crazy and did not do things right, he could have done different
things to try to achieve his goal instead of killing a very important singer of the time. I think that
Holdens ideal of having a world without phoniness is correct and positive, but to achieve that
we should think of new ways to get to that and do not let an idea to consume us all completely
and do crazy things like killing a person. This book might have influenced in some way Chapman
to try to change the world but he did not do things right and took a bad decision that took him
to jail. People should think well before acting, and analyze their options on every situation for
doing something right and make witty desicions. (Montaldo, 2013) (Stashower, 2013)
(Crimen&Investigacion, 2013)

Bibliography
Crimen&Investigacion. (2013). Retrieved June 18, 2013, from
http://crimeneinvestigacion.com/crimen/criminales/mark-chapman-el-asesino-de-john-lennon/
Montaldo, C. (2013). About.com. Retrieved June 18, 2013, from
http://crime.about.com/od/murder/a/Profile-Of-Mark-Chapman.htm
Stashower, D. (2013). The American Scholar. Retrieved June 18, 2103, from
http://theamericanscholar.org/on-first-looking-into-chapmans-holden-speculations-on-a-
murder/#.UcJQH_lQFyR
Salinger, J. D. (1951). The catcher in the rye. Boston: Little, Brown.