The Catcher in the Rye- The Museum

I think that in the Catcher in the Rye, the museum symbolizes for Holden something that we all have. A childhood place, nostalgia, and something that never changes.

Holden explains how this is where he went as a child, with his sister. Whenever there is something like this in our life, we remember every single thing about it and Holden definitely did; he knew that museum better than the back of his hand. The details and little things he explains in the book are perfect to explain childhood; grade school, candy, and innocence.

These few pages are totally filled with nostalgia. It is looking back in life from a few years ago. It is remembering little things that have actually impacted your life a lot, but not realizing it until now. It is one thing that has triggered all of this. A museum, with Indians and history. It is a safe haven of warm fuzzy memories that is the definition of a great childhood.

Then comes one of my favorite parts. How the museum never changes, no matter how much you do. As humans, we don't always take in change well, and the fact that there is a place that never changes, even when you and everyone around you always are, it is comforting. Holden explains a ton of little things that can change. He wasn't saying that we have a new life story every time we go somewhere again. Just a different jacket, or a new friend.

At the end of the chapter, Holden finally arrives to the museum (all this time he was walking just thinking about this stuff.) and he decides not to go in. After all this build up and how excited he was he just leaves. I think this for two main reasons; he doesn't want the museum to be any different than what it was because then it would mean that it changed so that would ruin part of why he liked the museum so much. Reason number two is because he wants it to be a part of his childhood memories forever, and just his childhood.


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.