Sample Passage Analysis

In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, there is a passage in which Holden reflects at great length about the Museum of Natural History in NYC.  In this passage, Holden illustrates how much he struggles with change.  At this point in the book, Holden is in a low place as he wanders aimlessly around the city.  He gets to the museum and thinks back on all of the fond memories that he has from his childhood there.  For all of the positives that he remembers, though, he explains how, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121).  The fact that Holden identifies this quality of staying the same as “the best thing” about the museum highlights how important consistency is to him.  Holden has experienced so much dramatic change in his life, such as losing his brother and being kicked out of numerous schools.  Therefore, having something like the museum that will always be there is of critical importance to him.  In Holden’s eyes, “Certain things they should just stay the way they are” (122).  He feels that “You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (122).    If Holden had been able to put his own childhood inside of a “big glass case”, then he would still have Allie alive; if the things in his life could have “just stay[ed] the way they [were]”, then Holden’s life would be a lot less complicated than it is now.  He longs for the simplicity of childhood, and he uses the museum as a way to show how he wishes things could have remained as they were when he was a child.