Ricky's Response to Rocket Man

I agree that Rocket Man “represents Holden's depression and insanity through its lyrics.” However, I also believe that it also parallels Holden’s view of life as the “terrific bore … [he] hates” (130). For example, the song starts describing the job of an astronaut as an everyday job. In the song, “[the astronaut’s wife] packed [his] bags last night, pre-flight. Zero hour: 9 a.m. And [he's] gonna be high as a kite by then.” In a way, this is a similar description to a man flying on a typical, boring business trip. Due to his lack of interest, the astronaut, like Holden, has lost the thrill of living.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GOR5gvQwDI&feature=fvw

The song No Surprises by Radiohead portrays the intense boredom and apathy that Holden feels towards the world in chapters 17 and 18. In these chapters Holden is living a life of "no alarms and no surprises" and attending a school that he hates, "a job that slowly kills [him]" because of the "phony" students around him and the lack of relevance he feels about his classes. Holden asks his date Sally to join him in the forest, stating that he would "take a quiet life" away from society and the phoniness of large cities like New York. Holden also brings up fairly often that he would like to commit suicide, or in the song, take "A handshake of carbon monoxide"

Lyrics:

A heart that's full up like a landfill

A job that slowly kills you

Bruises that won't heal

You look so tired and unhappy

Bring down the government

They don't, they don't speak for us

I'll take a quiet life

A handshake of carbon monoxide

No alarms and no surprises

No alarms and no surprises

No alarms and no surprises

Silent, silent

This is my final fit, my final bellyache with

No alarms and no surprises

No alarms and no surprises

No alarms and no surprises please

Such a pretty house, such a pretty garden

No alarms and no surprises (let me out of here)

No alarms and no surprises (let me out of here)

No alarms and no surprises please let me out of here

The song No Surprises expresses Holden's loneliness and apathy towards life and the people around him as he progresses down a darkening path of depression and detachment from the real world. The highlighted lyrics, specifically

"I'll take a quiet life

A handshake of carbon monoxide

No alarms and no surprises

Silent, silent"

show Holden's passionate desire to get away from all of the phoniness and hustle and bustle of the city to a quiet secluded home in the woods, or later in Colorado. These few lines of the song also depict Holden's dream of being "the Catcher in the Rye" "I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."(173) Holden describes a simple life of being a protective figure and keeping Innocence in tact. The song No Surprises and this famous Holden Caulfield quote seem to be practically synonymous. This song is expresses Holden's isolation from the phyhsical world around him and his desire for being nothing but "the catcher in the rye." The song shows a sense of apathy and indifference that are extremely reminiscent of Holden's own views, as well as the feeling of being "so damn depressed and lonesome"(153)

Loneliness

The song “I’m just a Kid,” by Simple Plan conveys the difficulty of being a kid through the concept of loneliness which is also a repeated issue in Holden’s life. In the song, the first three lines are “I woke up it was seven, I waited till eleven, just to figure out that no one would call.” This is where loneliness is first represented. It says that he waited for four hours, but no one wanted to spend time with him. This is a similar scenario to Holden’s situation. Holden is constantly searching for companionship as well. On page 69, when Holden visits the Lavender Room, he is feeling very lonely and so he starts to look around for someone he can spend time with and maybe even start a conversation with even though they are a complete stranger to him. In the songs chorus, it also mentions, “Nobody cares cause I’m alone in the world.” This statement can almost be placed anywhere in the book because Holden is nearly always experiencing the pain of having no one that cares about him which causes most of his loneliness. This is another reason to why he often has the urge to call Jane. Jane is very comforting to Holden because she gives Holden someone to talk to, although Holden is constantly held back and never calls Jane so she continues to just be a memory to him. Holden and the song both are very similar in the way that they both are struggling with loneliness.

Analysis-Talk by Coldplay

The song “Talk” by Coldplay, represents Holden’s fear of his place in the future and also his trouble in finding someone to speak to. Holden is a curious boy, and when it comes to his own fate he is scared. Holden constantly brings up this subject, showing that he is nervous and scared for his future and what it will bring him. “You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South that little lake By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know by any chance?” (60) Holden is curious as to what fate lies in the hands of these ducks and also what is in store for Holden himself. In the song “Talk” the man is telling his brother “I can’t get through…I’m so scared about the future I don’t know what to do.” This man is clearly like Holden in that they are unsure of their place in life and they both look up to their brothers as role models. The two men cannot seem to “get through” to anyone and they are both clearly suffering from this. Holden is worried about the future, but he cannot share any of these feelings because not many people actually listen to him. Holden is in a constant state of depression, but when trying to find a way he finds himself stuck because the people he wants to talk to don’t pay much attention to him. For example, when Holden asks a Taxi driver what happens to the ducks when the lake is frozen over in central park, the man responds, “How the hell should I know?” Holden is rejected while indirectly asking about what will happen in the future. This relates to one of the lines in the song, ”You’ll tell everyone who will listen but you will feel ignored.” This is exactly how Holden feels throughout the story and he only finds a few professors and his sister helpful. Holden’s actions seem to be nonchalant, but his apparent curiosity for his well beings shows that he has a more sensitive side when it comes to things that really affect him.

Catcher Song: "Chasing Cars"

Song: I believe that the song, "Chasing Cars," by Snow Patrol would be placed on page 132, when Holden asks Sally to run away with him. This is an appropriate place for this song because it conveys Holden's feelings and thoughts during that moment with Sally Hayes. The line in the song, "If I just lay here would you lay with me and just forget the world?", reflects Holden's fear of loneliness when he wants turns his back upon the world. Also, when Holden explains to Sally his plan of living in cabins in the rural areas, it connects to the line from the song: "Let's waste time chasing cars around our heads," which illustrates the fantasies that Holden continuously imagines.

Paragraph: In the song, Chasing Cars, the usage of metaphors conveys Holden's desire for companionship that provides guidance for him. Throughout the song, Snow Patrol begs for a friend to accompany him on his journey away from the world. In the second verse of the song, the lyrics of "show me a garden that's bursting into life," illustrates Snow Patrol's wish to have a friend that would lead him toward the right path or a "garden bursting into life" . Holden's fear of being forsaken and lost is also similar to that particular line of the song. Despite the fact that "[he] didn't like him too much" (136), Holden decides to call up Carl Luce because "he was very enlightening sometimes," (136). Salinger conveys that Holden yearns for friendship so he can obtain instructions of where to go with his life. Also, in the second verse of the song,the singer expresses his "need [of a friend's] grace to remind [him] to find [his] own." These particular lyrics reveal that the singer requires guidance from a friend to "remind him to find his own grace" and his own path to the future. Through the use of metaphors in its song,Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol conveys Holden's dread of becoming alone and that friends usher him onto the right path.

Chasing Cars

When I'm Gone

The song When I'm Gone by 3 Doors Down would fit really well right on page 81, at the very beginning of chapter 12 when Holden is looking out the taxi window and continues further into depression. I could see it as a movie shot (ironically) - Holden stares out the window at all the stuff that's happening, and sometimes you see a close up of his face, and the song is just playing softly in the backround. Here are the lyrics:



There's another world inside of me that you may never see

There's secrets in this life that I can't hide

Somewhere in this darkness there's a light that I can't find

Maybe it's too far away, maybe I'm just blind

Maybe I'm just blind



So hold me when I'm here, right me when I'm wrong

Hold me when I'm scared, and love me when I'm gone

Everything I am, and everything in me

Wants to be the one you wanted me to be



I'll never let you down, even if I could

I'd give up everything, if only for your good

So hold me when I'm here, right me when i'm wrong

Hold me when I'm scared, you wont always be there

So love me when I'm gone

When I'm gone



When your education xray cannot see under my skin

I won't tell you a damn thing that I could not tell my friends

And roaming through this darkness I'm alive but I'm alone

Part of me is fighting this, but part of me is gone



So hold me when I'm here, right me when I'm wrong

Hold me when I'm scared, and love me when I'm gone

Everything I am, and everything in me

Wants to be the one you wanted me to be



I'll never let you down, even if I could

I'd give up everything, if only for your good

So hold me when I'm here, right me when I'm wrong

Hold me when I'm scared, you won't always be there

So love me when I'm gone.



Maybe I'm just blind.



(repeat chorus part again)



Love me when I'm gone

whoa

love me when I'm gone, when I'm gone

when I'm gone, when I'm gone.

The song "When I'm gone" by 3 doors down accurately conveys Holden through the sense that both of them are struggling with the need to have a companion. Throughout the entire novel, Holden is constantly feeling "so damn depressed and lonesome" (153) - all by himself in New York City. He really wants somebody to be his friend, and he seeks companionship in the form of women, since all the guys he knows are "phonies." We know he's lonely because, aside from him planly stating it, he always "[gets] Jane Gallagher on the brain again. [He gets] her on, and [he can't] get her off" (76). This lonesomeness translates clearly into the lyrics of the song - in fact, the chorus is all about the singer longing for someone to hold him, love him, and help him do things right. Holden also feels this way - he knows that something is wrong, and can't help feeling that if he had somebody to lean on, then they could help him on the road to recovery. Further, the singer says "I'd give up everything, if only for your good". I think all of us believe that in Holden's desperation, he'd give almost anything in order to have a companion, so he doesnt have to keep "roaming through this darkness," "alive but alone". On a final note, the whole minor tone and soft, slow, rhythm of this piece gives listeners that lagging, depressed feeling. A feeling of empathy - you feel like you can relate to the singer, and it makes you feel slightly meloncholy.

Clarissa

When I'm gone