The catcher in the Rye & Its Most Infamous Readers
Z.S. Louis
Contributor - Control Alt History
zslouis@proton.me
The Catcher in the Rye is a post-WW2 era novel written by J.D. Salinger, and since its publication in 1951, has become one of the best-selling novels in literary…but J.D. Salinger’s claim to fame has been surrounded by controversy since he concluded its writing in 1945.
I won’t spoil the plot of the novel but must highlight that its original public reception was rather poor. The novel features central plot points surrounding sexually explicit content, blasphemy, attacks on the concept of family, use of alcohol, mental health struggles, moral ambiguity, etc. As you can imagine, literature highlighting these topics was met with criticism in the golden age fabulous fifties. From 1961 until 1981, The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in America (4).
But something changed in the early 1980s, and The Catcher in the Rye, originally written for adult consumption, became the most taught book in the public school system. Even then Vice President George H.W. Bush referred to the book as “marvelous” and a core inspiration for his life (5).
As The Catcher in the Rye regained societal relevance, something strange started happening, and fast. Within the decade of the 1980s, three of the highest profile murders and attempted murders all featured a shooter who was discovered to be in possession of a copy of the novel at the time of their crimes.
The Murder of John Lennon
On December 8th, 1980, John Lennon was murdered outside of the Dakota in New York City by former Beatles superfan Mark David Chapman (6). The official story states that after becoming a born-again Christian, Chapman grew distasteful of the Beatles, especially Lennon, after comments and song lyrics featuring blasphemy. The lyrics of Imagine, God, and a comment about being “more popular than Jesus”, are all noted as reasons for Chapman’s desire to kill Lennon (7). And that may be correct, but the odd part of the story is that after shooting Lennon, Chapman remained put and made no attempt to flee. Even stranger, is that it is well reported that after the murder, Chapman removed a copy of The Catcher in the Rye from his coat pocket and began reading the novel awaiting police arrival (8).
The Attempted Assassination of President Ronald Regan
On March 29th, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots into a crowd featuring President Ronald Regan. Of the six shots, four individuals were struck, killing one, and wounding three, including President Regan (9). The official narrative on the motivation for the shooting is that Hinckley Jr., who came from a prominent oil family with close ties to the Bush’s (16), was so enamored with actress Jodie Foster, that he felt shooting the president would force her into noticing him. Hinckley himself described the shooting as “the greatest love offering in the history of the world” (9). But again, upon a search of Hinckley Jr.’s hotel room, the police recovered none other than, a copy of The Catcher in the Rye (10).
The Murder of Rebecca Schaeffer
In 1989, Rebecca Schaeffer was at the height of her career in Hollywood, having secured a role on the top 25 television series My Sister Sam. As she prepared to audition for a role in The Godfather III, she was shot and killed by obsessive superfan Robert John Bardo (11). The official explanation for the shooting is that Bardo was enraged after seeing Schaeffer appear in bed with another actor in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Bardo supposedly referred to Schaeffer as having become “another Hollywood whore” (12). Similar to Chapman, immediately after the murder, Bardo removed a copy of The Catcher in the Rye from his person. But this time, the assassin threw the book into the sky, where it ultimately landed on a nearby rooftop (13).
Could it be coincidence that three of the most newsworthy shootings of the 1980s all featured a copy of The Catcher in the Rye? Why was a book previously deemed worthy of censorship suddenly so popular in American schools? Especially while featuring so many adult themes?
The strange coincidences surrounding the novel don’t stop there. The book appeared again in the 1997 movie Conspiracy Theory. Fitting, I know.
Throughout the film, Mel Gibson’s character, paranoid conspiracy theorist Jerry Flecther, impulsively buys a copy of The Catcher in the Rye whenever he sees the book. When Jerry’s love interest inquiries about his obsession with the book, Jerry reveals he has never read it and cannot explain his compulsion to purchase dozens of copies of the text (14). Again, I won’t spoil the plot of the film for those who haven’t seen it, but I strongly recommend that anyone interested watch the film. It just might explain the entire eerie connection to the book and these killings.