Change is an inevitable process of life and often it can be extremely difficult to deal with. A change can be as small and insignificant as changing a habit, or maybe even as huge as switching schools or death. The Catcher in the Rye is a novel about the main character’s, Holden’s, journey of growing up. He experiences many varying types of changes. Holden is afraid of change and in many situations throughout the novel, he resists both change and the process of maturity. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the motif of the Museum of Natural History is the main object that helps to develop the theme of Holden’s fear of change, and it is obvious that he fears change and complexity more and more as the story progresses, eventually resulting in him becoming irritated by even the slightest of changes.
As Holden's thoughts about the Museum of Natural History demonstrate, he does not like change and would rather everything to be constant and easily understandable, just like the displays in the museum. In Holden's case, he has a good reason to be afraid of change. He has had to change schools numerous times, while also having to deal with the death of his little brother Allie. He has a hard time adjusting to changes in his life. In chapter 16, when Holden was killing time before his date with Sally, he decided to walk to the Museum of Natural History. This is very telling of who Holden is that he would walk from Central Park all the way to the museum. For Holden, the museum could arguably be considered one of his favorite places. The museum provides him with the comfort of something that is unchanging. He loves that life in the museum is frozen, silent, and always the same. Holden says, "The best thing, though, in that ...
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...the theme of Holden’s fear of change, making it obvious that he increasingly feared change as the story progressed and was more and more bothered by change as well. At the beginning, the museum had always been a “freeze-frame” safe spot in which Holden could go back to. Holden was then shaken up by the change in the museum when someone wrote on the wall. It made him realize that a place that is nice, peaceful, and unchanging, just does not exist. And lastly, his biggest concern with the writing on the wall was that it would result in the “death of innocence” of a child. In summary, Holden remains terrified of change throughout the novel and becomes increasingly irritated by it because it makes him link his fear of change with his fear of the loss of childhood innocence.
Works Cited
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.
This demonstrates that Holden has this mindset and believes that he isn't ageing because he occasionally believes that he is thirteen most of the time. He's trying to resist adulthood because that’s when all his issues began. In addition, when Holden took Phoebe to a museum he really enjoyed his time there because of how everything was put. Holden sated “the best thing though in the museum was that everything always stayed right where it is. Nobody´d move. You could go hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole … Nobody's be different” (Salinger 121). This conveys that Holden is fond of the museum because it doesn't change unlike other places he is surrounded which relates to the death of his brother Allie, who died of leukemia. He believes that when his brother died, his whole world shifted as a result, his parent isolated themselves from him and connects to the reason Holden is unable to acknowledge that his urge is to never change like a
Despite Holden's resistance to change, he starts to change. "Catcher in the Rye," reminds us that changing is not easy to process mentally. Going through the true process of change, it requires us to let go of the past and move on which is hard. The novel represents the hardship of changing. It reminds us how great the value of finding something special and precious is as well as a valid reason although it requires us to let go and move on with our lives. All it requires is to simply let
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the leading character, Holden Caulfield, emerges as an adolescence lost in his own private world of pain and suffering, yet ostensibly he was able to provide himself with all the luxuries and splendors of American society. Holden is presented as a failure who struggles to stay in at least one of the four schools he's been kicked out of. This can reflect that Holden can't manage to get by in life. Throughout the book, it is obvious that Holden is running from so many things such as growing up, reality and people who are phonies. It seems that Holden is confused and trapped in memories from moments past, that he is dealing with loneliness and isolates himself as a form of protection. Not only that but he lacks parental attention therefore, is desperate for companionship. Holden says, "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 passage in Chapter 16, demonstrates that he is confused and feared that he doesn't know how to deal with change. This may be because of troubling memories or ideas that he chooses not to focus on or has difficulty focusing on. Holden sets out for the reader the underlying theme of Sigmund Freud's work regarding the unconscious state. Freud believed that there are three levels of consciousness in the mind: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious. "The contents of the unconscious cannot be brought directly into consciousness simply by focusing on them; they are brought into consciousness only with great difficulty, if at all. With so much of the contents of the mind mired in the unconscious, we re...
Growing up is not easy. The desire to slow down or stop the process is not unusual for adolescents. Resisting adulthood causes those who try to run away from it to eventually come to terms with the reality of life: everyone has to grow up, and fighting against it makes it much harder to accept in the end. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield often tries to resist the process of maturity in an effort to avoid the complicated life he might face as an adult, making him an unusual protagonist for a bildungsroman; this struggle, however, opens Holden’s eyes to the reality and inevitability of growing up, helping him realize that innocence does not last forever. Holden’s preference of a simplistic lifestyle is evident throughout the novel, but stands out especially when he visits the Museum of Natural History.
This explains his obsession with innocence and childhood which are destroyed by the waves of change. He expresses this with his description of his favorite part about the museum. “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). Here Holden uses the word “you” to make it seem as if he does not change, everyone else does. Holden idealizes this stagnant scene in which everything remains constant. He enjoys this simplified view of the world because life transform into a stable concept instead of the hurricane of disaster he has witnessed with both people’s corruptness and losing his brother. His inability to change perhaps is also linked with his depression from his younger brother’s demise- the inescapable whisper that whistles through his mind. Holden views all of
Holden hates that the world around him is constantly changing, and that people keep leaving, because he knows that the places and people he was once comfortable with are most likely very different from when he was younger. While Holden is in New York, he decides to pay a visit to the Museum of Natural History where he often used to go as a kid. When looking at an Eskimo in a display case, Holden comes to the conclusion that “certain things they should stay the way they are. You should be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (122). Holden wants to be able to depend on people and places he knows will always be the same, especially as the world is changing around him. Therefore, living in a time where everything revolves around the use of technology which enables the world to change at a very fast pace, would only intensify Holden’s fe...
When Holden enters the museum he notices all the glasses cases and he comes to a moment of realization. The structures inside the glass case represent what he wants from his life. He doesn't want time progress he would just like to be frozen in time living in his best moments. If he could, he wouldn't be so depressed and his life would be flawless. He might be wanting to put a moment when he was younger and he was happy with his family and want to keep it in there. This was when his brother was still alive and he hadn't learned the term phony. He wouldn't want that to progress, but he notices that as time goes by his dream will never be accomplished.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield views his surroundings with hypocrisy and contempt in an attempt to avoid the corruption of adulthood. Holden places himself above the crowd because he believes everyone acts phony. In the process, Caulfield reveals his true problem: his refusal to change.
Throughout the book Holden admits he doesn't like change. Holden fear of growing up , becoming an adult and thinking of of it disgust him. For example the museum, Holden like it because the exterior of it did not change and says the only thing that would change would be you.In the text Luce says “Same old Caulfield.When are you going to grow up already?”(144). Holden wants things to stay how they are and how his life is. Holden considers adults phonies and he doesn’t want to be consider phony as well. When he describes the museum he says the best part about it is that it never changes, only you do.Holden bonds with his sister taking her to the zoo, museum and the carousel.He wants to Phoebe to experience what he did and to get the memories alive. “What I have to do, I would have to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff- what I have to do, I mean if they are running and they don't look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That is all I have to do. I would just be the catcher in the rye”(173). This quote show how by holden is catching them from falling down the cliff which symbolizes stopping them from adulthood. “Thousand of little kids and nobody’s around- nobody big , I mean except me”(173). This quotes implies how young innocent kids won't be exerted by adults
We see during the novel that Holden wants to be able to protect innocence in the world, however by the end of the story he lets go of that desire. This is a point of growth for Holden. He finds that it is impossible and unnecessary to keep all the innocence in the world. While with Phoebe Holden says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye...I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (173). In this moment Holden wants to be able to preserve all the youth and innocence in the world. He doesn’t accept that kids have to grow and change and that they can’t stay innocent forever. Later on in the story when Holden is with Phoebe at a carousel again he thinks, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” At the end of the novel Holden realizes and comes to terms with the fact that kids grow and lose their innocence. He moves from his want to be the “catcher in the rye” to...
J.D. Salinger shows that fear of change can stop one from moving forward. The first impactful example J.D. Salinger shows us of Holden’s fear of change is when Holden goes into any detail relating to the museum. Holden relishes in the fact that every time you go to the museum it stays the same, and even recalls that is how the museum was when he visited there as a child. When he was a child, Holden had one opinion about what he thought was the best part of the museum, “the best things, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121). Holden clearly enjoyed that the museum stayed the same when he was a child and he still does now that he is older. Holden wants to hold onto these memories of when he was younger so he does not have...
The Theme of Change: The Catcher in the Rye Change has one of the large-scale consequences on our inhabits. Even though it is often never observed, change occurs every minute and every second we are living on this world. We live each day without recognising the dissimilarities in us, if it's a personal or a mental change. It's not until we gaze back on our past through recollections and images that we realize how much we've really altered over time. Sometimes, we have to look actually deep and analyze locations or things that are untouched by change to help us realize how much we indeed have changed. J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye exemplifies the hardships of Holden, a troubled adolescent considering with his fear and disapprove of change in his life. The extent to which his anxiety with change moves is shown by his concept of being the catcher in the rye area, catching young kids that drop off the cliff. The tranquility he finds inside things residing the same is epitomized by his admiration of the never-changing Eskimos in the repository. The contradictory effect of change upon him, however, is best shown through his trauma regarding the death of his dear male sibling, Allie.
Holden Caulfield can be analyzed through his thoughts, actions and circumstances which surround his everyday life. Holden acts like a careless teenager. Holden has been to several prep-schools, all of which he got kicked out of for failing classes. After being kicked out of the latest, Pency Prep, he went off to New York on his own. Holden seems to have a motivation problem which apparently affects his reasoning. The basis of his reasoning comes from his thoughts. Holden thinks the world is full of a bunch of phonies. All his toughs about people he meets are negative. The only good thoughts he has are about his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Alley. Holden, perhaps, wishes that everyone, including himself, should be like his brother and sister. That is to be intelligent, real and loving. Holden’s problem is with his heart. It was broken when his brother died. Now Holden goes around the world as his fake self, wearing his mask. Holden is looking for love, peace and understanding. He is scared to love because he is afraid he might lose it like he did with his brother. That is the reason for Holden's love of the museum, he feels safe because it never changes it always stays the same. Holden is troubled with the pain of death, it effects every aspect of his life causing him to not care about the future, himself or anyone, except Phoebe and Alley.
Holden tries to preserve his own innocence, and the innocence of others by not letting go of childhood memories and through his desire to suspend time. Holden views the adult world as corrupt and full of phonies. He admires childhood because of how it is free of corruption, and untouched by the adult world. IN order to preserve his own innocence Holden often attaches himself to childhood memories. The Museum of NAtural History is one of Holden’s favourite places . He mentions that his grade one teacher Miss. Aigletinger used to take his class there every saturday. While writing about the museum he says, “The best thing, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121). This shows how Holden wants to preserve his innocence because he expresses how he likes how everything stayed the