Holler at your boy one time! This week on Thug Notes we gettin twisted with
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
This book tell the story of Holden Caulfield, a 16 year white boy who start talkin
about the events that got his ass slung up in a mental hospital.
You see, last Christmas, Holden got kicked out of his prissy private school for
flunking all his classes, cept English! Holla! So then he drops in on his old teach, Spencer,
who tells him that he gotta get his sh%# together.
Later, Holden rolls up to his crib where he throws down with his roomie Stradlater,
who be mackin some girl Holden used to holler at.
After gettin his ass whooped, Holden peaces out to New York City
where he gonna lay low at the Edmont Hotel.
Now my boy comes clean to the reader and admits he ain’t never busted his cherry,
even though he say he always been swimmin in trim. So he decide to get himself
a pro named Sunny and get his freak on.
When Sunny rolls up to his crib, Holden chokes like a bitch and say he just wanna talk.
Then Sunny try to shake my boy down for mo cash,
but Holden ain’t backin down and kicks her ass out.
Next thing you know, Sunny’s pimp Maurice busts in, bitch slaps Holden,
and jacks dat paper son.
So Holden eventually decide he gonna see his baby sister Phoebe,
who axe him what he wanna be about. Holden says he sees himself in a big field of rye full of kids,
where he be standing at the cliff catchin any little homies who bout to fall off.
Now when his folks come home, Holden slips out to kick it with his old teach Mr. Antolini.
But Holden gotta bail when he thinks that creepy cat be feelin him up while he sleep
At this point, Holden be bout to straight lose his sh**, so he decide to
get the hell outta dodge. His sista Phoebe wanna join up, but he shuts her ass down.
Phoebe gets all amped and tells him to shut his trap.
So Holden apologizes to Phoebe and takes her to the zoo where he enjoys
watchin her kick it on the carousel.
At this point, Holden say all he wanna say. He could talk about how he got
sick and got locked up, but he just ain’t feeling it.
A true playa might say that Catcher illustrates how Holden tryin to find stability
and acceptance in a broken society full of people that always be fakin. But when that
fool come up empty handed, he gotta get real and buck the system.
Now break yo-self for this here symbol, blood. By turning around his hunting hat,
Holden be tellin us that his values be the reverse of the rest of society’s.
And if you rollin like a G, you probably noticed that be the same way baseball catchers wear
their hat, foreshadowing his role as the Catcher in the Rye.
And unless you peep this quote that be explaining the title, you be actin a straight phony
On the literal, Holden be saving kids from fallin off a cliff, but figuratively
he saving them from the all the bent-ass shit of adulthood. Even though they ain’t nothing
Holden can do to stop the pure world of children from changing to the fake-ass world of adults,
he gonna buck it for hisself and other little homies for as long as he can.
So when Holden preachin about the glass cases up in the Museum, what he really
saying is that he don’t wanna join the ranks of them fake- ass adults.
He wanna freeze time just like dem plastic playas behind the glass.
That’s why the only one he can keep it real with is his baby sister Phoebe.
But that ain’t cuttin it. Holden be trippin cuz he got a legit desire to search
for beauty in human contact, but just ain’t finding it in a world of such ugliness.
This is what makes Holden one of the loneliest playas in all of literature.
He keeps it so real, while errybody else frontin’.
But as much as Holden be spittin that righteous talk, he sure as hell ain’t no prince.
Like he say: “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.”
And although he want you to think he hard, homeboy got a gentle soul. That’s why he
always askin what them ducks in the central park lake gonna do once the water freezes over.
So, in the end, this gangsta pays the price for bein too soft in a world twisted by deceit:
By spendin his days in a psych ward. Damn.
Yo thanks for checkin in, I’ll catch you next week my well-read ballas.