Why Catcher in the Rye (Part 2)

“The best thing…in that museum was that everything stayed right where is was. Nobody’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times...nobody’d be different. 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...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. I know it's impossible, but it's too bad anyway” (Salinger 135-136).

My favorite passage in The Catcher in the Rye is when Holden talks about a history museum. He went on school field trips to it when he was younger. Salinger does a tremendous job of putting the reader into the scene. His strong details and childlike view on this museum are so genuine and sweet.

This passage is the greatest mirror in the book that I believe people can identify with.

We all have things in our lives that we would like to stay the same. When we are feeling happy, we’d like to stay happy. As parents, we’d like our children to stay young. When you are apart of a team or group, you don't want the season to end. This is the main theme of the book; trying to keep the wonderful, pure, innocent things the way they are.

As Holden ends his long, beautiful, ramble, he gives us this last thought (it's kinda long, but stick with me).

"You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat this time. Or the kid that was your partner in line last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner... or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some way- I cant explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it" (Salinger 158)

But he is explaining it! And what do all of those things have to do with anything? I don't know but wow is Salinger a great writer. I can see all of it in an observant, childlike way. I find it beautiful. I love tangents because they give a glimpse to what we think about, even subconsciously.  Holden does this a lot and it tells us so much about him and makes us care about him more. It's vulnerability at it's best.

Holden has a younger sister named Phoebe and he gets on this tangent when thinking about how she is probably going on the same field trips, seeing the same things he saw when he was her age. That's very comforting to him; even though his youth cannot stay or be gone back to, other kids are experiencing it and keeping it in the present.

God I love this book. If you have not read it, I strongly encourage it. Or, you could just read this part of the book; it does not give anything away and can stand alone. It's toward the end of chapter 16.

-Kayla