Breaking the Shell- The Catcher in the Rye

             Everybody experiences their own loss of innocence in their own way and at their own particular time. One person may lose their innocence when they are at the age of 15 while the other at the age of 21. We are all different our own ways and experience different things. It all depends on our biological clock and our ability to handle the loss. For Holden Caulfield, the loss of innocence is a trauma for him especially since he does not like the concept of change. Throughout the entire book, Holden strives to presevere his childhood and innocence, but at the end, he fails to achieve this preserverance, which leads to the inevitable heartbreak of the young man.
             "The best thing, though, in that museum was 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." (121)
             This quote explains the reason why seventeen-year old Holden Caulfield loves the Museum of Natural History. The museum enables him to visualize his perfect fantasy: a world without change. Every time he visits the museum, everything is as it was before. However, he does not want to go in the museum for a second time because it corrupts his fantasy-world due to the bitter truth of reality. An important detail in this quote is the use of the pronoun, you. This means that he does not want include himself in the inevitable process of change. For Holden Caulfield, his problem is dealing with change, particularly the loss of innocence.
             There are many themes that relate to the loss of innocence. One of them is maturity and coming of age. His comments about the Museum of Natural History indicates that he does not want to grow up and fears the very concept of it. In Holden's eyes an as well as any other person, a child is innocent and has life the easy way. On the contrary, adults have responsibility and lead complex lives. He refers to them as "...

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