Chapter 16

In Chapter 16 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden buys a record for Phoebe and goes to the park to find her. He finds a girl about Phoebe's age and talks to her. He finds he is more comfortable talking to her than an adult because of her innocence. He decides to go to the Museum of Natural History but changes his mind once he gets there. "All of a sudden I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks" (pg. 159). The reason Holden does not want to go inside the museum is because he is scared it won't be the same as it was when he was a child. He is afraid that if he does go in something will have changed and the reason he liked going so much as a child was because nothing ever changed. Even though he is changing, he does not want everything else to change.