Holden’s Idea of Happiness: Birds, Boats, and Beings Preserved in Glass Boxes
Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye is unapologetically and undoubtedly disillusioned by the “adult” world around him. The source of his disdain is seemingly people and their persistent phoniness: Ackley’s patheticness, Stradlater’s pretentiousness, or Mr. Spencer’s self-proclaimed wisdom –to name a few. Except for a special minority, Holden ruthlessly lays out the faults of those around him to the reader (who he believes to be of the special sort). While it can be easy to think Holden a cynical, hateful person who only sees the bad in the world after his constant critiques of those around him, one's impression of him must change as they witness his visit to a particular place: the Natural History Museum. As soon as Holden enters, his tone to the reader abruptly shifts. He doesn’t call the museum lousy or phony , or any other descriptors the reader has been accustomed to him using. Instead, he likens being in the museum to a refuge from rain, as if it were “...