The Museum of Natural History

J.D. Salinger used symbolism throughout the course of The Catcher in the Rye. One particular use of symbolism stuck out to me: the Museum of Natural History. In the novel, the Museum of Natural History symbolized the Holden holding on to his childhood. Holden fears the idea of becoming an adult and losing the idea of being a child. Holden states, "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" (Salinger, 121). Holden begins to imagine what life would be like if everything stayed the same. He imagined staying a child for the rest of his life and living in a predictable world where he knew what was going to happen all the time. He begins to show how he is very reluctant to change. He likes to know what is going on in his life and he likes to keep a consistent routine. But at this point, he shows that  he knows inside that things are going to change. He knows that their will be points in his life that are unpredictable and non-consistent. Holden pictures the museum as a fantasy world. Even though he never goes inside the museum, he was able to so vividly describe it. It shows that he wants to live in a consistent, childhood fantasy world more than anything else.