*** This blog was written out of my heavy fascination to the Guns N' Roses song Catcher In The Rye. I made a simple research on why did the classic book of J.D. Salinger affected many people including Mark David Chapman in killing John Lennon which eventually inspired Axl Rose to write such a very beautiful tribute song. Catcher in the Rye - Guns N' Roses
The Book
You can read the whole plot of the Catcher In The Rye book in wikipedia-The Cather In The Rye. I just like to share my thoughts on which and how some parts of the book probably affected Mark David Chapman in convincing himself to kill John Lennon. The main protagonist of the book is a 16 year old kid named Holden Caulfield. Holden initially wanted to escape New York and go to the western part of USA to escape his adolescent problems (family, school, bullying) but later changed his mind after her younger sister, Phoebe, insisted on coming with him. Holden sees himself as 'protector' and 'guardian' of Phoebe from the atrocities of the world which was explicitly mentioned by Holden in this part of the book...While I was walking up the stairs, though, all of a sudden I thought I was going to puke again. Only, I didn't. I sat down for a second, and then I felt better. But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody's written "Fuck you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them--all cockeyed, naturally--what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever's written it. I figured it was some pervert bum that'd sneaked in the school late at night to take a leak or something and then wrote it on the wall. I kept picturing myself catching him at it, and how I'd smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddam dead and bloody. But I knew, too, I wouldn't have the guts to do it. I knew that. That made me even more depressed. I hardly even had the guts to rub it off the wall with my hand, if you want to know the truth. I was afraid some teacher would catch me rubbing it off and would think I'd written it. But I rubbed it out anyway, finally. Then I went on up to the principal's office. 
On the later part of the book, Holden mentioned to Phoebe his dream job. The job of being the CATCHER IN THE RYE where he would catch or prevent children from falling to a cliff. He would see himself as the hero/savior to the kids who are playing in the middle of a rye field. His only job is to watch over children who are playing. As stated in this following excerpt from the book..."Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--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. I know it's crazy." 
The real and 'phony' Holden Caulfield?
Mark Chapman was a Christian when he was still a teenager which idolizes John Lennon and the Beatles. Mark Chapman was reportedly disappointed by John Lennon's 1966 remark that The Beatles are "more popular than Jesus". Let me quote what wikipedia has to say the possible motive of Chapman in killing John Lennon....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 "bigger 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 the Lord Jesus Christ. He said it was blasphemy. Chapman had also read in a library book (John Lennon: One Day at a Time by Anthony Fawcett) about Lennon's life in New York. "He was angry that Lennon would preach love and peace but yet have millions [of dollars]," said his wife Gloria. Chapman later said that "He told us to imagine no possessions, and there he was, with millions of dollars and yachts and farms and country estates, laughing at people like me who had believed the lies and bought the records and built a big part of their lives around his music."
Chapman was obsessed with the book Catcher In The Rye and sees John Lennon as a phony, an impostor of a "catcher" that must be eliminated. Chapman maybe thinking if he would be able to stop Lennon, he is successful of being a catcher for the kids that is being fooled by the catcher impostor John Lennon.
Before killing John Lennon, he bought a copy of Cather In The Rye in New York and he wrote "This is my statement" and signed it as "Holden Caulfield". After killing John Lennon, he sat there in the crime scene while reading Cather In The Rye. At the initial hearing of the murder case filed against Mark Chapman, he sent a statement to The New York Times urging everyone to read the book calling it an "extraordinary book that holds my answer" 
John Lennon and Mark Chapman 6 hours before the murder.
Chapman shook hands with Lennon and gave Lennon's album (Double Fantasy) for an autographThe Song
The Guns N Roses song Catcher In The Rye was written by AXL ROSE after watching a documentary about Chapman. He said he wanted to write something for Lennon and his family. The end result is without saying a masterpiece. Here's my interpretation:
The song is about young fans and teenagers who idolize their favorite rock stars too much that they rely to their music as a consolation for their problems. It's how they consider their favorite rock stars as heroes that help them escape from their troubles in the "outside world". These are kids who have problems (family, school, peer pressure, society) who are looking for comfort. But when the time that their idols are no longer meeting their expectations of being someone you can lean on, (in this case where John Lennon said that The Beatles are "bigger than Jesus" which started to disappoint Chapman), these troubled kids started to experience a rude awakening and do something drastic actions.
Being a Catcher In The Rye book-freak, Chapman initially considers John Lennon as his "catcher" but later found out that Lennon is not doing his job well enough so he decided to get rid of John Lennon. Chapman may have thought that Lennon is so phony to become Holden Caulfield so Chapman decided to takeover the job of being the "Catcher In The Rye". Chapman considered himself to be the one who will save other kids losing their innocence from this phony world, saving kids from phony people like John Lennon. The obsession of Chapman to the book Catcher In The Rye took over and did the unthinkable thing by killing John Lennon. 
When all is said and done
We're not the only ones
Who look at life this way
That's what the old folks say
But every time I’d see them
Makes me wish I had a gun
If I thought that I was crazy
Well I guess I'd have more fun
(Guess I'd have more fun)
Oooh
The Catcher in the Rye again
Won't let you get away from him
(Tomorrow never comes)
It's just another day…
Like today
You decide
‘Cause I don't have to
And then they'll find
And I won't ask you
At anytime
Or long thereafter
If it's cold outside
As I’m imagining
It to be
Lana nana na na na
Lana nana na nana
Oooh
The Catcher in the Rye again
Won't let you get away from him
(Tomorrow never comes)
It's just another day…
Like today
When all is said and done
We're not the only ones
Who look at life this way
That's what the young folks say
As if they'd ever change
That's not who am I to say
But every time I'd see them
Makes me wish I had a gun
If I thought that I was crazy
Well I guess I'd have more fun
It's what used to be's not there for me
And ought to find someone that belongs insane like I do
On an ordinary day
Not in an ordinary way
All at once the song I heard
No longer would it play for anybody
Or anyone
That needed comfort from somebody
Needed comfort from someone who cared
To be
Not like you
And unlike me
And then the voices went away
From me
Somehow you set the wheels in motion
It haunts our memories
You were the instrument
You were the one
How a body took a body
You gave that boy a gun
You took our innocence
Beyond our stares
Sometimes the only thing
We counted on
When no one else was there
You may also find interesting to watch the movie CHAPTER 27 starring Jared Leto as Mark Chapman. The title "Chapter 27" suggests a continuation of J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which has 26 chapters only. The movie explores Chapman's psyche during the dates from December 6 to the date of John Lennon's death on December 8 1980. 
