The Museum of Natural History and its Symbolism
Hola,
This is Clara! Today I am going to discuss the Museum of Natural History and its role in The Catcher in the Rye.
At several points in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden reminisces on his time at the Museum of Natural History. He recounts his memories of the exhibits from when he visited frequently as a young boy–-the mummies, the historical people, and the firm but kind security guards. Holden retells his time at the museum fondly, and he frames it as a highly nostalgic and romanticized motif of his early life. However, the museum plays an even larger and symbolic role in the novel, as it clearly represents Holden’s values.
Holden loves the unchanged nature of the Natural History Museum in his visits. Regardless of how many times he came with his school, how old he was, or what the weather was like outside, the exhibits would remain exactly where he last saw them. Though he could not control the ever-dynamic nature of his life and the world around him, the museum represented a place of comforting stagnation. The museum stayed the same through it all, which is what Holden wishes his life could do.
Throughout the book, Holden idolizes childhood, innocence, and preservation. Despite his almost constant criticisms of everything else, he adores his sister Phoebe and his late brother Allie, due to their bright-eyed and carefree nature (though Phoebe is seemingly more mature than Holden is). While he’s quick to judge or get depressed by his peers and adults, his interactions with children make him happy and a lot less cynical. Childhood is something he clearly loves, misses, and wishes the world could hang suspended in for the rest of time. Holden feels apprehensive and disgusted towards anything that indicates ‘growing up,’ like future jobs, schools, and sex–and prefers to live in the past.
This mindset is why Holden holds his memories of the Museum of Natural History in high esteem, as well as why he decides to not enter when he returns to its steps in the novel. The prospect of anything being changed inside the museum or even just the drastic difference in Holden that will be made clear by revisiting the exhibits terrifies him. He can’t stand to ruin such a pure thing in his mind, just like with Jane.
Holden is obsessed with the past but refuses to bring it to the present, in case it takes on the same tone as the rest of his current disappointing life.
I really like the point you made about Holden keeping his past in his mind constantly, almost as if he would rather live in it, which could be a reason why he spends so much time in the Natural History Museum, another place that has relics of the past, but also contains memories of his past as it doesn't change. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI love how you point out Holden's inability to bring his past into his present due to his fear of change ( or feeling as if he somehow has grown up/out of the childlike things he once loved)
ReplyDeletei feel like your post here is really capturing holden's fear of change that we see everywhere throughout the book- he glamourizes everything that can be stagnant in his brain (ally, the musuem you're talking about here, and jane) and is afriad to ever reaccount his perception of these things in his head.
ReplyDeleteI like how you show how the museum represents how much Holden is scared of change and how he can't accept that he has to grow up, and would rather keep everything the same so it will always be like his idealized version of it.
ReplyDeleteHolden really is scared of change and his transition to adulthood but luckily, he can root his childhood in something that never changes. Not only does he have memories at this museum, but those memories are kept alive by the unchanging nature of the exhibits. I really like how you describe him wanting his childhood to be “suspended” when in reality, this can never happen. It’s really only a matter of time before he internalizes the hard truth. Cool post!
ReplyDeleteI found this very interesting in Holden as well, because throughout the book, he is simply unwilling for there to be change in anything really. However, this will never really work out for him in the long run, because things always change. In this way, I am somewhat reminded of the way the bell jar leaves off, where you are left wondering if they have truly recovered/changed and the way they used to feel could come back at any time.
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