Holden Caulfield

576 Words2 Pages

Through the character of Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger illustrates how the Museum of Natural History represents Holden’s wish to stay innocent and free of change. Holden sees the exhibits behind the glass cases at the museum and how all of the pieces inside are stuck in time. Holden wishes to be able to “stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them there,” and to isolate them from the rest of the world. (Salinger 122). When Holden speaks of “them,” he subconsciously refers to his memories and his life. He wishes to be stuck in the time of childhood, the time of his favorite memories from the museum. Holden observes that the “museum was full of glass cases,” and full of still artifacts behind each case. His observance of the multitude of the cases shows his deep wish to not age and stay innocent. He wishes to freeze himself and his many memories inside the numerous cases. In addition, it shows how there were many times in Holden’s life where he wished to be back in the time of his youth. The …show more content…

Holden wrote about his childhood memories at the museum, and how he used to visit weekly. His memories from the museum were positive and full of comfort as it was, “the only nice, dry, cosy place in the world,” according to Holden (Salinger 120.) Holden shows how he is comforted by innocence and the memories of childhood, especially in times of sadness. He often felt uncomfortable in a mature setting, but the museum comforted him as it reminded him of innocence and at times immaturity. Holden Caulfield truly, “loved that damn museum,” and loved the memories he had in the museum. The memories that took place in the museum represented the time Holden felt most comfortable in. The museum represented the best time in Holden’s life because it represents innocence, the very thing Holden craves in his growingly unstable

Examples Of Maturity In Catcher In The Rye
733 Words | 2 Pages
Holden’s preference of a simplistic lifestyle is evident throughout the novel, but stands out especially when he visits the Museum of Natural History. He explains that. Holden loves this museum because it is still, silent, and always the same, which is a version of life he likes and understands. He fears dealing with conflict, uncertainty, and change, which he thinks comes with being an adult. It
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Symbols and Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye
589 Words | 2 Pages
While walking through New York City, Holden arrives at the Museum of Natural History. He remarks about the museum that he likes the glass cases that the museum officials place all of their exhibits in.
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Examples Of Dialectical Journal For The Catcher In The Rye
904 Words | 2 Pages
As he walked around and looked at displays, he noticed nothing ever changed from the times he visited. The unchanged displays provides constant stability and security for Holden because he fears the unknown. Holden wish that his life could be frozen in time. He doesn’t want to grow up to face the corruptions, the vulgarities, and the unknown in life. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move… Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.”
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Holden Caulfield Phony
783 Words | 2 Pages
Holden, struggling to find his true identity fears the thought of change. Seeking the Museum of Natural History for the comfort of sameness, he expresses his admiration for the unchanging exhibits, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move.” (135) With continuous fear of change, Holden puts himself into an even further whirlwind of emotional distress and isolation, all while constantly picking apart everyone around him and judging them merely on the way that they speak or the words that they say. In the very first sentence of chapter three, Holden admits to being a liar, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible.”
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Holden Caulfield Isolation
1788 Words | 4 Pages
He discusses the different exhibits within the museum in great detail, before emphasizing how one could visit the museum several times and everything would be exactly the same. He then adds, “Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (122). This statement exemplifies Holden’s wish that his life does not undergo large changes as he becomes an adult. Conversely, other adolescents his age, such as Ward Stradlater and Carl Luce, have embraced the changes found in adulthood by engaging in sexual activity among other things. Holden is unable to relate to peers such as Stradlater and Luce, due to them being in different stages of adulthood, and therefore feels alienated from these characters. Moreover, Holden cannot cope with the changes found in his life as is shown in chapter six. At this point in the novel, Stradlater has just returned from his date with Jane Gallagher, one of Holden’s summer neighbors. When Holden asks Stradlater how the date went, Stradlater insinuates that he may have had sex with Jane.
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Holden Caulfield Fear Of Innocence
1056 Words | 3 Pages
No matter where we go in life, our childhood memories will always be with us. It does not mean that we are fully attached to them but they still remain. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye we see Holden making large realizations about life. For much of Holden’s life he feared losing his childhood and innocence and fought hard to preserve it. Many symbols were used to express Holden’s desire for stability and childhood. The ducks and fish allowed Holden to wonder where he would go if his life got difficult, the museum gave him stability, and the carrousel let him live in his childhood. They appear to be small subjects in the novel but they speak volumes. By the end, Holden still refuses to mature but you can tell that he realizes that growing up is inevitable.
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Catcher In The Rye Loss Of Innocence Quotes
1285 Words | 3 Pages
Holden visits a place he used to go to during his childhood, the Museum of Natural history. that symbolizes a world where nothing has to change. Holden wishes he can apply the same thing to his life.While Holden thinks about the memories he had at the museum, he realizes the reason that liked it so much is that he could count on everything to stay the same, “ The best thing though in that museum was that everything right where it was. Nobody’d move… the only thing that would be different is you” (Salinger 157). Holden knows that he has become different, and he recognizes this in the quote. He knows that he holds less innocence than the last time he visited the museum. Holden’s fear of change is evident in this quote as he is afraid of becoming
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How Does Holden Mature In Catcher In The Rye
1238 Words | 3 Pages
Holden knows that people will grow and change but still isn’t contempt with the idea, this happens especially when he visits the museum and thinks to himself, “The best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move….Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you”(121). Holden over thinks about how the museum will always be the same and then remembers that you’d change and he feels uncomfortable with that, ultimately he decides not to enter the museum because he knows he has changed and does not want to deal with it. Throughout the book Holden holds on to the idea that a childhood must be saved from growing up, but when he sees Phoebe on the carousel he then realizes that maybe it’s best for children to grow up and he then states, “The thing is with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddamn horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them”(211). Holden is finally realizing and understanding how children will grow up and yes it will be sad but Holden isn’t
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Why Holden Loves The Museum?
792 Words | 2 Pages
One symbol that he uses is the Museum of Natural History. Part of the reason why Holden loves the museum so much is because everything there is constant and frozen in time, similar to how he wishes he could freeze certain moments of time like with Allie and Phoebe. "Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big
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How Does Holden Lose His Innocence
802 Words | 2 Pages
When Holden travels to the Museum of Natural History, he often reminisces of his childhood, and how “everything [in the museum] always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move” (Salinger 135). As Holden’s childhood slips away, Holden is comforted by the knowledge that nothing changes in the museum. He relishes that his innocence can remain preserved in the past and untouchable from the tainted adult world. Holden envies the museum’s ability “to stick [certain things] in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (Salinger 136). If his life remains within an isolated glass case, Holden can freeze his pain and hinder his adulthood. The Museum of Natural History acts as a haven from Holden’s afflictions and represents his comfort and familiarity associated with his childhood. Although, as Holden matures, he comprehends that “[y]ou can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any” (Salinger 224). Holden acknowledges that, if the Museum of Natural History modifies, he must transform too. Nothing is permanent because everything must
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Holden's Struggles In Catcher In The Rye
1409 Words | 3 Pages
To elaborate, instead of coming out of his stressful teenage years more mature and grown up, he still possesses his same childish views on life. Additionally, this desire to be the “catcher in the rye” proves that Holden is far from cold and cynical, but that he is just an extremely confused and lost teenage boy. Perhaps the best example of Holden’s desire to protect child innocence shines through with his younger sister, Phoebe. "With Phoebe, Holden is at home in a world of innocence and integrity" (Engel 44). Some readers argue that it is almost as if Phoebe is a younger version of himself, which explains why he desires to protect her so badly. Likewise, Holden exhibits this same behavior when visiting the museum. As he explains, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you" (Salinger 121). This clearly illustrates his reluctance to change and mature. As Barlow relates Holden’s younger sister and the museum he explains, "Phoebe is one of those things Holden would like to stick in one of those glass cases to keep her from changing. She is this terrific, smart, kid, and Holden doesn't want her to change" (1). Eventually, Holden does evolve, and ultimately, his acceptance of Phoebe's need to grow and mature indicates that he is taking a step forward from believing he needs to be her protector and thus, his own maturation begins. He seems to truly surrender to the inevitability of growing up, and ultimately, "Holden would like to be able to keep little kids pure, and to prevent people from getting hurt or corrupted — but he can't, and he knows it, and this is what leads to his breakdown” (Barlow
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Holden Caulfield's Childhood
1163 Words | 3 Pages
Towards the end of the book, Holden took Phoebe, his favorite sister, to the carrousel except Holden did not ride with her. He says while she is riding, “All the kids kept trying to grab the gold ring, and so was Old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse , but I didn’t say anything or do anything” (Salinger 211). This shows how Holden is maturing because Holden for one is protective and two, he does not want her to grow up. But Holden showed that he is somewhat letting go of it, and seeing that Phoebe is ready to grow up. This also helps Holden realize that since Phoebe is now growing up he might need to grow up also. He starts to let go of protecting innocence and childhood, but only a couple weeks later when he had returned home, he was put in an institute for mental care. This shows how Holden did not get better by this moment at the carrousel and he is still stuck between childhood and adulthood. Another moment is when Holden wants to find Phoebe and he describes the Museum of Natural History and he tells us, “Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you” (121). Holden used to go to the museum a lot and it was a big part of his childhood. What Holden means when he says that one would be different is that one would get older and
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Holden Caulfield Symbolism
680 Words | 2 Pages
Salinger chooses this particular location because its name represents what Holden wants the world to be like: natural and “phony”-less. This place contains mummies, which symbolize Holden’s struggle in youth—he wants everything and everyone to remain the same. Holden refuses to grow up because his brother Allie died young, perpetually mummified in the pain of youth that Holden desperately tries to save everyone from. Ultimately, however, this concept is impossible—he himself, for example, cannot escape the impact Allie’s death has on his emotional state. Holden wants to preserve the memory of his brother like the mummies and not forget him like his parents did. As a result, he eagerly rejects adulthood and fixates himself on the notion of eternal, painless
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Holden Caulfield Phony
971 Words | 2 Pages
He enjoys the Museum of Natural History because “everything always stayed right where it was”(chapter 16 ) . The museum represents the world Holden wishes to live in . Where everything is simple and infinite. He is terrified by the unpredictable challenges in the world and interactions with other people. What Harold fails to realize is that trying to keeping everything the same and everyone innocent is a fools errand that only leads to madness.
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A Psychological Profile Of Holden Caufield
639 Words | 2 Pages
122) This phrase Holden made while discussing how things were different each time he went to the museum, stems from an inability to accept that he must grow up. The thought of growing up has driven Holden into bouts of depression as inhis discussion on page 133, " It'd be entirely different. I said. I was getting depressed as hell again." This nonconformist desire has led Holden to have illusions of grandeur as a fictional savior, "The Catcher in the Rye."(pg. 173) The catcher in the rye is undoubtedly a metaphor, for keeping children from falling into the same norm as adults.
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Holden Caulfield

Examples Of Maturity In Catcher In The Rye

Symbols and Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye

Examples Of Dialectical Journal For The Catcher In The Rye