Why is "Catcher in the Rye" often associated with conspiracies?

Question

..murderers, assasins and brainwashing..

Lee Harvey Oswald (shot JFK), Mark David Chapman (shot Lennon), John Hinckley Jr (shot Reagan) were ALL said to be obsessed with Catcher in the Rye..

Answer 1

Crazy/lonely and paranoid people empathize with Holden (protagonist) because he feels that no one understands him and has illusions of grandeur. He views everyone else as a phony, while he is the only legitimate adult.

Answer 2

Not so much conspiracies as free thought. Many people found this book to be wholly moving and life-changing. The way it was written forced public schools to strike it off from their cirriculum and many other schools threw it into the book-burning fires. So it goes against the government, and having a copy on you at all times is like a Christian having a "WWJD" bracelet: it just tells you something about that person. Me? I carry a copy in my trunk, but only just in case I meet somebody who's never read it.

Answer 3

Because Holden Caulfield thinks that everyone around him is phony and just doing what they're told.

Plus, I think that book was the favorite book of the guy who killed John Lennon.

Answer 4

Well, it's the ony book I had to read that I've forgotten...something about subliminal messages...
worked, hunh?
OOOH it must be a conspiracy.
No, wait, I remember now, that wa Brave New World. :-)
But I still can't remember the book, except-
"bassackwards."
And that's all I hope to remember.

Answer 5

I've read it and sincerely I think the book has nothing to do with all these

Answer 6

Huh? Its not associated with any of those things.