The Catcher in the
Rye has NOTHNG to do with Mark David Chapman's
killing of John Lennon.
Mark David Chapman had a slew of
mental and emotional problems, none of which were caused by reading a book. The mere
fact that the book appeared on his bookshelf means absolutely nothing. Holden Caufield
or J. D. Salinger have not caused anyone to incite violence. Such a connection is
faulty logic. It's like listening to a Beatles record backwards for some secret
message. As such, it's a myth and nonsense.
Mark David
Chapman was a religious nut. He shot John Lennon mainly because of what John Lennon
said regarding the Beatles being "bigger than Jesus":
On March 4, 1966, this quote of John's was
printed in an interview by reporter (and friend of John's) Maureen Cleave in the London
Evening Standard:
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and
shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more
popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or
Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them
twisting it that ruins it for me."
He was, as she reported, reading
extensively about religion at the time. It was a small part of the article. No one took
notice of it in
Britain.
Here's another
source to confirm this:
It has been suggested that, as a
young boy, Chapman was "very sensitive and that his parents' anger towards each other
intruded upon his normal development. He retreated from a very early age into a fantasy
world."
Chapman was a fan of the Beatles, particularly Lennon, but was reportedly angered by
Lennon's infamous 1966 remark that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." Jan
Reeves, sister of one of Chapman's best friends, reports that Chapman
"seemed really angry toward John Lennon, and he kept saying he could not understand why
John Lennon had said it. According to Mark, there should be nobody more
popular than Jesus Christ. He said it was
blasphemy.
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