How Holden Deals with Grief in Salingers The Catcher in...

The Catcher in the Rye is about a young boy named Holden Caulfield who is going through an emotionally hard time. After leaving school due to flunking grades, Holden sets out for New York city. During his time in New York, Holden rediscovers himself and his values. Holden Caulfield values Allie’s baseball mitt before he leaves school, the museum, and the Carousel in Central Park because they remind him of his childhood, and the innocence of childhood he hates to see children lose. Holden Caulfield values his brother, Allie. When Allie died of Leukemia on July 19, 1946, Holden was left devastated. However, Holden always thought that Allie was the most interesting person that he has ever met. Allie was one person that†¦show more content†¦Holden remembers everything about the mitt from being left handed to the poems all over the fingers of the glove. Allie would write them on the fingers of the glove â€Å"so that he’d have something to read when he was on the field and nobody was up at bat† (38). Holden tears up the composition because he gets upset that his roommate, Stradlater, says that Holden’s writing about his brothers glove is not related to the assignment. The glove is valued by Holden because it is a constant reminder of his brother and how much Holden cared about him. At the museum that Holden visits while he is waiting for his younger sister Phoebe to come meet him, Holden gets asked by a group of young boys if he knew where the mummies are. Holden tells the boys where the mummies are because he was younger he would go when to see them. Surprisingly, Holden knows a great deal about the mummies, more than he did on his test at Pency. The museum is a reflection of how much he knows and his childhood because Holden really knows more than he thinks he does. Holden would visit the museum as a child with his school to learn about many different things. To Holden, the best part about the museum was, â€Å"everything always stayed right where it was† (121) Holden must learn to accept that not everything can always stay right where they are, things must change in order to move forward. His childhood is important to him because it was a source of goodShow MoreRelatedThe Catcher in the Rye vs. Looking For Alaska1807 Words   |  8 PagesAlaska vs. The Catcher in the Rye Many parallels can be drawn between the main protagonists in John Greens Looking for Alaska, and J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Rye. Although these two coming of age novels differ greatly in setting and in circumstance, many of the broader, more fundamental themes in each are actually quite similar. John Green was very much influenced by J.D. 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