Wild, unhinged theory I once had about Catcher in the Rye

I should note before I start that it has been a LONG time since I read Catcher in the Rye. Not since I was 14. I haven’t been 14 in a couple decades.

I just wanted to share this theory I had about a stealth sequel. You see, I remember when I was in my mid-twenties, I went to this B-movie bar showing of a really silly film called Hobo With a Shotgun. High art, I know. It was about this nameless hobo who helps this woman fight against some government or corporate power. I don’t remember. It’s been a long time since I was in my mid-twenties as well. I was drinking and laughing with everyone else at the film until the hobo talks about his philosophy on life.

I don’t remember it exactly, but if I recall, he talks about people needing to be kept in line, not because they are evil, but because they are like children and will hurt themselves or be preyed upon. And sometimes, the only thing standing between them and destruction is a hobo with a shotgun.

I’m probably way off now, but when I was watching it there and then, my mind blew. The speech he gives is very similar to the one that Holden gives about wanting to keep children in a field of rye from running off. Both speeches expressed similar ideologies, and were structured the same way, even name-dropping the title at the end. The similarities were eery as Hell, and then I realized that the hobo never gets named in the film. Could he have been Holden Caulfield, years after the events of the book and never turning his life around?

Unlikely, sure. I heavily doubt that to be the creators’ intent, but that was my mind-blowing theory that came into my head when I was at the bar with a few rum and cokes in my system. That Hobo With a Shotgun was actually a sequel to Catcher in the Rye.

I guess this is where I ask you what your wildest book fan theory was.