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What Does The Museum Symbolize In Catcher In The Rye

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Symbols can mean anything in a person's life; they are the language of mysteries. Holden Caulfield has many symbols representing different aspects of his life. J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye tells a heartbreaking story about Holden, a young teenager who struggles to fit in with the world and finding a place that he belongs. Holden seems to not realize that he is an adult now but is attached in this childish world. Holden likes the way things were the same in his childhood and desires to stop time and remain in his childhood. Therefore, the museum symbolizes childhood, Holden's world that he wishes to live in, and determination for his life not to change. The museum is Holden's way of saying that he does not want any change in his life because of the way things in the museum are the same from back when he was a child. Holden remembers everything in the museum which brings back the fun memories made going through the museum when he was just a child. Going through this is a reminder and a recollection for Holden that childhood was simple, innocent, and nothing needed change. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody's move… Nobody’d be different” (Salinger 121). Holden is excessively afraid of …show more content…

For Holden that is what the museum symbolizes, his perfect, simple and genuine world that he urges to live in and does not want life to change. He wants his childhood back because of the innocence of it but is afraid of losing it. Holden is an adult now and changes need to happen but the thought of that is frightening for him. He can not accept that changes that are happening around him and sooner or later changes would need to happen in him also. Despite Holden’s challenging life obstacles that he had to go through he is ready to move on with life and be more adult

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Throughout the story, Holden struggles with the idea of growing up. He is scared to grow up, but ironically, he does many things that adults would or could only do, like go out to bars and drink alcohol. While reminiscing about home, Holden thinks about the lagoons in Central Park and what happened when “it would be frozen over.. and if it was, where did the ducks go?” (Salinger 13). This is significant because it is symbolic of Holden worrying about what will happen when he grows up.

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Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield’s recounting of the weekend after he gets expelled from the umpteeth time form another private school. His name can be broken down to reveal his struggle to retain his happier childhood memories and innocence, to grow up, and to protect others from the difficulties of life. His first name, Holden, can be interpreted for how he wants to hold onto better times. “I can't remember exactly what I was doing when I heard his goddam stupid footsteps coming down the corridor… When I really worry about something, I don't just fool around… If you knew Stradlater, you'd have been worried, too…

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Nobody'd move" (Salinger 135). Salinger uses this idea of stillness to show how Holden lives in the past. As mentioned earlier, Holden's brother tragically died at a young age affecting Holdens ideas of the world. This symbol of the museum shows how Holden does not want time to move. Holden wishes everything froze in its place so nothing would change.

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While waiting for his sister to come meet him at the museum to say goodbye two kids approach him asking him if he knows where the mummies are in the museum. The is the first time Holden comes across the mummies in the novel. The significance of the mummies is that it brings him back to the museum, and the museum reminds Holden of his childhood. This reminder of childhood gives more evidence that Holden is scared to grow up. This can be seen by whenever Holden visits the museum another time and says,“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was.”

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When Holden talks about the Museum of Natural History, he says that his favorite feature about the museum is the big glass cases. Holden believes that the glass cases represent innocence since they protect the exhibits from the outside world and time. Therefore, he says that he wants “to stick [Phoebe] in one of those big glass cases and just leave” her alone (Salinger 158). His idea proves that Holden believes that the glass cases will protect Phoebe from change and losing innocence since she will be isolated. Holden returns to his fantasy of isolation when he is meets Sally, and he says that they should “drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont” and “stay in [the] cabin camps” (Salinger 171).

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Holden clings to knowing the world around him will stay the same. That is the only thing that keeps him going and you can tell ( “the museum connotes ideas of both dynamism and stasis. However, to begin with, Holden clings to its associations with stasis.”) Holden’s mind is fighting between everything staying the same and not moving to he knows that everyone will change and become impure. He clings on to stasis because he is afraid of what the future will bring.

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The only thing that would be different would be you” (Salinger 135). Holden throughout the novel is depicted as someone who finds it hard to move on in life and is unable to deal with change. In specification to the Museum of Natural History, everything seemingly stays the same, even after an extended period of time. In this case, Holden desires to be similar to the museum in the sense that he wishes to be frozen in time. This dismissal of change and wanting things to stay the same can also relate to how Holden views the museum as a safe haven for him to escape to whenever life becomes too hard for him.

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If the book is read solely on its surface level, it just seems like a book about an annoying teenager who just complains about everything, but the messages it carries are actually profound. For example, near the end of the story Holden is upset by some profane graffiti on the wall at a museum that says “F*** you” (Salinger 224). He is upset by it because he is worried some little kids will see it and wonder what it means, and then be curious enough to find out adn have their innocence stolen. He finds the graffiti multiple times in the museum. The profane graffiti, if looked at beyond the surface level, symbolises the fact that Holden can not do anything to stop little kids from losing their innocence.

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When the school is captivated watching the football game at the field, Holden refuses to mix with the rest of the student body and instead chooses to watch it from “...way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill.” When in New York, Holden visits a lagoon in Central Park, which is mostly frozen over. He also ponders whether the ducks will be at the lagoon during winter. Holden “walked around the whole damn lake” (Salinger, 200) and to his detriment, “…didn’t see a single duck.” (Salinger, 200).

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In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger demonstrates through Holden that refusing to accept or initiate change can ensue in self-deception. When Holden settles for going to go the Museum of Natural History- after having had no luck in searching for Phoebe- he begins to reminisce on the consistency of the very glass display cases in the museum, and how he wishes that “ 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” (Salinger 158). Holden conjectures that beautiful and mirthful moments should be long-lasting and that time be stopped for the sake of stability. With this in mind, Holden opts for avoiding reality altogether.

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Out of all the places he visits in NYC, the two most notable ones are the Museum of Natural History and Central Park. The museum is an illusion of how Holden wishes the world was. In the novel, he says: “Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” (Salinger 123).

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