J. D. Salinger uses the Museum, the Profanity on the Walls, and the Carrousel to express that the loss of innocence is inevitable as the harsh realities of the world are encountered.
"I loved that damn museum. I remember you had to go through the Indian Room to get to the auditorium" (Salinger 65; ch. 16). " When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks. It just didn't appeal to me" (Salinger 66; ch. 16). "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was" (Salinger 66; ch. 16). At first view, it seems that the essence of these quotes simply reduces to the following: the museum always stays the same and everything inside is left untouched. But there’s another less outspoken aspect related to the museum. Holden says that, while all the displays remain changeless, an individual is not the same every time he comes back to the museum. However, this fact is not associated with age, but implies the changes a teenager experiences to become an adult. The unperceivable qualities of youth, innocence, and the loss of it - are the issues the author wants to emphasize.
"Anyway, we kept getting closer and closer to the carrousel and you could start to hear that nutty music it always plays" (Salinger 113; ch. 25). "Then the carrousel started, and I watched her go around and around" (Salinger 114; ch. 25). "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything" (Salinger 114; ch. 25). In fact, the carrousel is the only place in the entire novel where Holden feels really happy. He is watching Phoebe go around and around on the carousel. Sure enough, there's more to this cheeriness than just a girl on a carrousel. There is another important insight connected to this scene: old carrousels would somewhat brighten things up by giving children an opportunity to get colored rings. Any kid could reach up and catch the ring which, in fact, supposed big risk to health and safety. In this situation the antagonist concludes that the only right thing to do is to let a kid reach this ring, even though they might seriously hurt themselves. The symbolism behind the carrousel is that you cannot really protect a kid from doing something, just like you cannot protect a teenager from his/her losing innocence. The only thing left to do is to accept it as it is.
"But while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written "Fuck you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy" (Salinger 108; ch. 25). "I hardly even had the guts to rub it off the wall with my hand, if you want to know the truth" (Salinger 108; ch. 25). "You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose" (Salinger 110; ch. 25). For Holden, the profanity on the walls of elementary schools is something that he would never understand and accept. For him, everything in this world has been empoisoned by harshness and vulgarities. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that he sees sex as detractive and humiliating. The only thing he knows for sure is that children are virgin and harmless while all adults are rotten-hearted. He refuses to admit the possibility that a kid might have vandalized the wall. He does realize that striving to wipe off all the profanities would be impossible, but he doesn't make the crucial connection to the futility of such attempts. Of course, the symbolism behind this scene is not the kids writing profanity. The author emphasizes that kids grow, encounter dirty and degrading things, and, therefore, the loss of innocence is inevitable as they face the harsh realities of this world.
Works Cited
1. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. 1st ed. Little, Brown, 1951. 118. Print.
