In J.D. Salingers bildungsroman, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield faces the fact he ultimately has to grow up. Growing up is a negative experience; it comes with constant change and a loss of innocence. Innocence is bliss which causes children to be ignorant of all the negative things around them, blinding them from the people who try to shelter them from bad things. But, as people get older, the bliss disappears. Overall, being mature and grown up is not as fun as the idea of growing up. Holden is a sixteen-year-old boy who was expelled for academic failure from a school named Pencey Prep. Over the course of the bildungsroman, a coming of age story, Holden is often asked the question, “When are you going to grow up?” …show more content…
Nobody'd be different from me. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, that's all (Salinger 157). This is not the only time where we see Holden be affected by loss of innocence. Holden’s love for the museum symbolizes his desire to avoid change and his preference of childhood’s simplicity over adulthood’s unpredictability. Holden loves the museum because it is the one constant thing in his life that will not change. The museum is a place where Holden can go to avoid growing up, because it will not change. This is a place of stability for Holden. As his life is constantly changing, this is the one place he knows will not change. He knows that the only thing about the museum that will change is just the people coming in and out of it. This is a place where Holden will go so he can feel like a child and avoid the fact that he is growing up. Overall, Holden likes museums because they do not