In the book, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, he writes about a mentally unstable boy named Holden Caufield. Throughout the book Holden retells his sixteenth year and all the events that lead to his breakdown. Holden has his breakdown because of his fear of losing his innocence as he grows into adulthood. The Museum of Natural History symbolizes a place where things can just be frozen in time like Holden wants.
Holden would like everything to be frozen in time because he fears the unknown. He doesn't like havign to deal with things he doesn't understand. He just wants everything to be plain and simple. The museum was a place of refuge for Holden from the passing of time. He could visit the museum and know that everything would be the same nothing would change. The only thing that seemed to be changing was the person.
The museum also helps to explain why Holden talks about Allie so much. He loves Allie so much and continues to talk about him because Holden knows that Allie will forever be young. Allie will never change because he died and there's nothing to change him, no passing of time or anything. Knowing that Allie will never change is something that Holden feels comfortable with and he's not afraid of it.
Ultimately, Holden came to realize that there's nothing that he can do to stop the progression of time. This realization could be what caused him to have his breakdown. Just knowing that he couldn't be Holden or holding on to something anymore, the understanding of what needed to change hit him. He had to growup.
