“Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum
The song “Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum describes Holden’s journey through New York and what he is thinking. For instance, Holden talks about going away for a long time when he says, “I’d start hitchhiking my way out West…. And live there the rest of my life” (Salinger 198-9). Holden starts to digress a lot but this time he starts to become super serious about this irrational idea of moving out forever. He feels like he doesn’t need anybody anymore and just wants to be in a place where he can live in his own world, but Holden can never really escape. Likewise, the band Soul Asylum are describing a similar situation because they say in their song, “Runaway train never going back/Wrong way on a one way track” …show more content…
Holden says in disgust, “I’d get the hell out of Pencey… It made me too sad and lonesome” (p. 51). Holden was completely fed up with Pencey and had just about enough of the “crumby” people occupying the school. He wants to get away from people and be solitary, thus he books a room at a hotel for some alone time away from the tension and burden of his usual everyday life. Furthermore, the individuals that make up the band Queen are also in partially the same position, because they wrote, “Pressure pushing down on me/Pressing down on you, no man ask for/Under pressure burns a building down/Splits a family in two/Puts people on streets” (Queen). While Holden is at Pencey, he is under a lot of pressure, between his brother’s death and his parents not happy with him getting kicked out of school a couple of times, it really takes a toll. All this tension at school caused him to go “on the street” when he makes the decision to flee Pencey. Another song by “Simple Plan” also portrays The Catcher in the …show more content…
For instance, Holden wants to give someone a call but he says, “I wanted to give someone a buzz… But I couldn’t think of anyone to call up… so I ended up not calling anyone” (p. 59). Holden realizes that he has no one who is so close to him that he can call them whenever. This leads to Holden continuing his lonely, companionless journey through New York. Moreover, the members of Simple Plan are also lonesome because they wrote, “I’ve got a lot of friends but I don’t hear from them/What’s another night all alone?” (Simple Plan). Throughout the book the reader encounters many different “companions” of Holden, but none of them send him letters or call him first. This amplifies his feelings of rejection and exclusion. Not only does this song represent The Catcher in the Rye, but a song written by Green Day does
The song “Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum describes Holden’s journey through New York and what he is thinking. For instance, Holden talks about going away for a long time when he says, “I’d start hitchhiking my way out West…. And live there the rest of my life” (Salinger 198-9). Holden starts to digress a lot but this time he starts to become super serious about this irrational idea of moving out forever. He feels like he doesn’t need anybody anymore and just wants to be in a place where he can live in his own world, but Holden can never really escape. Likewise, the band Soul Asylum are describing a similar situation because they say in their song, “Runaway train never going back/Wrong way on a one way track” …show more content…
Holden says in disgust, “I’d get the hell out of Pencey… It made me too sad and lonesome” (p. 51). Holden was completely fed up with Pencey and had just about enough of the “crumby” people occupying the school. He wants to get away from people and be solitary, thus he books a room at a hotel for some alone time away from the tension and burden of his usual everyday life. Furthermore, the individuals that make up the band Queen are also in partially the same position, because they wrote, “Pressure pushing down on me/Pressing down on you, no man ask for/Under pressure burns a building down/Splits a family in two/Puts people on streets” (Queen). While Holden is at Pencey, he is under a lot of pressure, between his brother’s death and his parents not happy with him getting kicked out of school a couple of times, it really takes a toll. All this tension at school caused him to go “on the street” when he makes the decision to flee Pencey. Another song by “Simple Plan” also portrays The Catcher in the …show more content…
For instance, Holden wants to give someone a call but he says, “I wanted to give someone a buzz… But I couldn’t think of anyone to call up… so I ended up not calling anyone” (p. 59). Holden realizes that he has no one who is so close to him that he can call them whenever. This leads to Holden continuing his lonely, companionless journey through New York. Moreover, the members of Simple Plan are also lonesome because they wrote, “I’ve got a lot of friends but I don’t hear from them/What’s another night all alone?” (Simple Plan). Throughout the book the reader encounters many different “companions” of Holden, but none of them send him letters or call him first. This amplifies his feelings of rejection and exclusion. Not only does this song represent The Catcher in the Rye, but a song written by Green Day does