Catcher In The Rye Carousel

Everyone loves a nostalgic walk down memory lane once in a while – if the memories are fond, that is. However, some cling to the past and refuse to leave it due to trauma or fear. This is evident in Holden Caulfield of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, where Holden seems to dwell in the old world of innocent childhood in reluctance to face adulthood and change. The carousel is a symbol of his desire for everything to stay the same, which can also be seen during his visit to the museum and when he thinks of Jane throughout the novel.

The carousel represents Holden’s longing to live in the past. At the end of the novel, when Holden brings Phoebe to the carousel in the park, he reveals that he used to visit when he was younger with Phoebe
It comes up again when he visits the Museum of Natural History. When Holden looks for Phoebe after leaving Pencey, he decides to go to the museum. He remembers visiting very often with his primary school: “We had a teacher, Miss Aigletinger, that took us there damn near every Saturday” (119). Holden has very fond memories of the museum and “[gets] very happy when [he] thinks about it” (120). He says: “It always smelled like it was raining outside, even if it wasn’t, and you were in the only nice, dry, cosy place in the world. I loved that damn museum” (120) and he goes on to describe his trips. The abundance of good memories and his affection for them makes him all the more attached to his childhood. However, Holden cannot seem to escape the crookedness of reality. At one point, he notices obscenities written on the walls of the museum. Seeing the corruption of the adult world in a place for children, a place that is precious to him, makes him resent adulthood even more. It disgusts him, making him turn his back on adulthood and long for the world of innocence even more. Also, during this scene, Holden reveals a mindset of his that is very important to his character. He says: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was . . . The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you’d be so much older or anything . . . You’d
Every time he thinks of Jane, he remembers their childhood together. They were next-door neighbors, and they had gotten to know each other quite intimately. Holden says: “She was the only one, outside of my family, that I ever showed Allie’s baseball mitt to, with all the poems written on it” (77). Clearly, Allie’s baseball mitt is an object that is very precious to Holden because he brought it with him to Pencey and keeps it in memory of his beloved brother. Jane has also shown Holden a very vulnerable side of her as she let him see her pent up emotions and cried after seeing her step-father. Although Holden presumably had romantic feelings toward Jane, they never had a romantic or sexual relationship, and Holden accepts that. He learns that “you don’t always have to get too sexy to get to know a girl” (76). Holden had a very close relationship with Jane, and it is one of the only relationships that had not been broken. Over the years, Holden has suffered many losses and is now incapable of maintaining relationships in attempt to protect himself: “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (214). Because of this, his childhood memory of Jane is precious to him and whenever he feels lonely, he is tempted to give her a call. Moreover, since Holden treasures the Jane he knew as a child, he is very protective of her and wants to preserve