Six Degrees of Separation

When the others ask Paul about the thesis that was allegedly stolen in the attack, he explains that it was about The Catcher in the Rye, specifically the fact that a number of murderers cited the book as a reason for, or defense of, their crimes. He says that he was aiming to “find out why this touching, beautiful, sensitive story […] had turned into this manifesto of hate” (32). 

One aspect of the book that Paul highlights is the habit the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has of calling everyone “phonies.” Discussing re-reading the book, he says, “It’s exactly as I remembered. Everybody’s a phoney” (32) and observes that Caulfield “wants to do so much and can’t do anything. Hates all phoniness and only lies to others” (32).

Paul also suggests that, at its core, the book is about “emotional and intellectual paralysis” and “the death of the imagination” (33). Expanding on his theory, he argues that “the imagination has been so debased that imagination—being imaginative—rather than being the lynchpin of our existence now stands as a synonym for something outside ourselves like science fiction” (33). Opposing this, Paul argues that “the imagination is the passport we create to take us into the real world” (34).