Lyrical Reaction

The song that I chose is "Not afraid" by Eminem. I think that this song is a reflection of Holden's inside world. Holden is very concerned about Phoebe and he thinks a lot about her. A connection that I found is that if Holden had the chance to go somewhere alone with Phoebe, he would. He would definitely take her away if he had this possibility. In this song, Eminem sends the same message: "We'll walk this road together, through the storm /Whatever weather, cold or warm /Just let you know that, you're not alone/ Holla if you feel that you've been down the same road.." As I read chapter 19 through 21, It was obvious how much Holden thinks about his sister. He even sneaks into his house in order to talk to her for a little bit.

Holden seems to be a very indifferent character. He doesn't care about anything. He is pessimistic and he doesn't like the world around him. In his song, Eminem has a really good connection with Holden's personality when he says: "What you think, I'm doing this for me, so *** the world/ Feed it beans, it's gassed up, if a thing's stopping me /I'mma be what I set out to be, without a doubt /undoubtedly.."

When Holden meets Luce, he is trying to ask him about sex, but Luce refuses to talk about this topic. Holden realized that he doesn't want to talk about it, even though he thinks that Luce is phony. He is not honest with Holden and it got him a little bit mad. Also, Holden is trying to figure out what is going on in his life, why is he so different from others, and why everything that happens it is not enjoyable. Eminem also has the idea of these qualities in his song: "There's a game called circle and I don't know how/I'm way too up to back down/But I think I'm still tryna figure this *** out/Thought I had it mapped out but I guess I didn't/This *** black cloud's still follow's me around/But it's time to exercise these demons/These *** are doing jumping jacks now!"