MuseumHolden, in "The Catcher in the Rye" likes to keep things the same, he hates change. Holden takes a liking for the Museum of Natural History, because it doesn't change, he can come back 20 years later and everything will be the same. Holden's liking for no change comes from his brother Allie's death. Holden says about the Museum, "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"(Salinger 122). Holden strives for everything to stay the same. the museum gives him that, and helps distract him from his depression and his brother's death. Holden also says, "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole"(Salinger 121). The museum gives him what the ducks don't, it gives him comfort, Holden loves the fact that he can come back and it'll be exactly how he lost saw it, unlike how he can't ever see Allie again.
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