"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd moved. 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, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, that's all.
- Holden, page 121
Holden says these words as he recalls his visits to the Museum of Natural History. He describes the glass cases with Indians inside or the Eskimo you'd pass by if you were walking by the auditorium. It seems as if Holden feels a bit somber, realizing how much he's grown up when he says this, and perhaps his distance from Phoebe is making him even more upset. To me, it seems as if this passage explains why Holden gets so frustrated with phonies. He doesn't like change. Holden appreciates when life is consistent and more importantly, when people (more specifically, his close ones) act the same way. I think it makes it easier for him to read them; if they constantly change themselves, Holden no longer feels comfortable being around them because he doesn't know how to act or what to say. When Holden mentions that you would be the only thing changing, I find it ironic that he still appears to be against conformity or in some type of adaptation to other people. It seems like he really let his true feelings about change out in this passage compared to the many statements we read about how phonies and their annoyance to him in the book. Holden is just afraid to admit that he has trouble adapting to when people change. A great example of this is when he describes how his brother D.B. was in the army, and hated it, but then he gave Holden a book about the army and said that it was terrific. This passage is especially important, because now readers understand a bit of Holden's real feelings that he hasn't admitted bluntly in the book for further reading. His touch of vulnerability shows readers a different side of him, which can help us make deeper analyses of Holden as the story progresses.
Holden says these words as he recalls his visits to the Museum of Natural History. He describes the glass cases with Indians inside or the Eskimo you'd pass by if you were walking by the auditorium. It seems as if Holden feels a bit somber, realizing how much he's grown up when he says this, and perhaps his distance from Phoebe is making him even more upset. To me, it seems as if this passage explains why Holden gets so frustrated with phonies. He doesn't like change. Holden appreciates when life is consistent and more importantly, when people (more specifically, his close ones) act the same way. I think it makes it easier for him to read them; if they constantly change themselves, Holden no longer feels comfortable being around them because he doesn't know how to act or what to say. When Holden mentions that you would be the only thing changing, I find it ironic that he still appears to be against conformity or in some type of adaptation to other people. It seems like he really let his true feelings about change out in this passage compared to the many statements we read about how phonies and their annoyance to him in the book. Holden is just afraid to admit that he has trouble adapting to when people change. A great example of this is when he describes how his brother D.B. was in the army, and hated it, but then he gave Holden a book about the army and said that it was terrific. This passage is especially important, because now readers understand a bit of Holden's real feelings that he hasn't admitted bluntly in the book for further reading. His touch of vulnerability shows readers a different side of him, which can help us make deeper analyses of Holden as the story progresses.
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