Weblog 15: Museum Significance

What is the sgnificance of  Holden’s claim that he loves the museum?

Holden, from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, claims that he loves the museum. He loves the museum because that museum never changes. “The best thing, though, in that museum 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). Holden seems to like things that don’t change. The displays in the museum are frozen and unchanging. Holden wishes to live in a world similar to the museum. He wants a simple, uncorrupted, and unchanging world. His love for the museum reflects his hatred for the constantly changing and unpredictable world.

It also seems as if he wants to be able to judge the museum displays without being judged by them. He hates how in the real world, phony people are constantly judging him.

            After telling the readers about how much he loves the museum, Holden suddenly decides not to go in to the museum. This was a strange twist in the story. When I first read this part, I was confused. It got me to think carefully about Holden’s actions, and I realized that Holden was starting to change. Right before arriving at the entrance of the museum, Holden comes across some kids play on a seesaw. He helps them play by pushing one side of the seesaw, but the kids seem like they don’t want Holden around. I think that this incident impacted Holden. He is slowly realizing that the simple, unrealistic and static child world is not a world in which he belongs. As a result, he decides to not go into the museum.

            Holden claims that he loves the museum because of its unchanging nature. Holden seems to idealize this kind of frozen world. However, he begins to change as he slowly realizes that his idealistic world is no longer for him. 

Weblog 14:Catcher in the Rye Cover

This is a fake cover of The Catcher in the Rye that I illustrated. I decided to include pictures of the mitt and rye because they seemed like two important ideas in this novel. 

First of all, the catching mitt seems to have had a significant purpose. The mitt belonged to Holden's brother, Allie. Allie was one of the few people whom Holden truly respected and loved. Also, the title of the novel is The Catcher in the Rye. Titles usually allude to important themes and ideas in a novel. In addition, Holden tells his younger sister, Phoebe, that he wants to become a catcher in the rye when he grows up. He wants to stand near the edge of the end of the cliff and save kids from running off of the cliff. Holden says “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And 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 – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger 173). I interpreted this as him meaning that he wants to save innocent minds from entering the corrupted adult world. The rye represents the innocent child world and the end of the cliff represents entering the corrupt adult world. Holden believes that adults are phony. The only people who he appreciates throughout this novel were either children, extremely kind people, or religiously affiliated people. Holden wants to be a catcher, like the catching mitt.

         In conclusion, I drew the catching mitt, and rye in order to represent the catcher in the rye. 

Weblog 13: Catcher in the Rye (Ch.1-9)

Holden, from The Catcher in the Rye thinks completely different things from what he actually says. In other words, his inner monologue and outer monologue are different. There are many examples of this throughout the book. 

I think that the significance of this dissonance is that it reveals how Holden is unable to express his true thoughts and feelings. He feels that he always needs to lie in order to please the people around him. This is especially revealed in his encounter with Mrs. Morrow. He continued to “chuck the old crap” (Salinger 54). Mrs. Morrow is the first person in this novel that Holden seems to actually appreciate and like. The fact that he continues to lie to her shows us readers that Holden thinks that the only way for him to interact and talk to people is by lying. I think that in a way, Holden is afraid to show his true self. He is afraid that people will dislike him more if he tells people his true inner monologue.

Holden also seems to enjoy using sarcasm. During his visit to Ackley’s room, he sarcastically calls Ackley a prince. I think that Holden uses sarcasm to “appear” tough. Instead of showing that he is hurt by Ackley’s lack of care, he continues to call Ackley a “goddam prince” (Salinger 50). Holden’s lying and sarcasm also make him a hypocrite. He is continuously calling other people “phonies” because they are fake. However, Holden it just as fake by always lying to people and not showing his true inner feelings.

In conclusion, Holden’s inner and outer monologues are extremely different. They are almost opposites of each other. A major example of this is when Holden encounters Mrs. Morrow on the train. He cannot stop lying. His lying also makes him a hypocrite. He goes around calling other classmates and people phonies, when in reality, he is a phony as well.