In the modern world, everyone must make the transition, no matter how scary or daunting it may be, to adulthood at some point in their lives. Most individuals are gradually exposed to more mature concepts and, over time, begin to accept that they can no longer possess the blissful ignorance they had as children. Others, however, are violently removed from their otherwise pure and uncorrupted adolescent life by a traumatic event that hurls them into adulthood before they are ready. The novel The Catcher on the Rye, written by JD Salinger, explores the struggle that children face in adapting to adult society through the main character Holden Caulfield, a teenager who has lost his innocence and is still trying to deal with the fact that everyone grows up. After his younger brother Allie dies and Holden is exposed to the harsh realities of the real world, he constantly tries to pretend that nothing ever happened and attempts to escape his new life as an adult. During the visit to the park, Holden while trying to find Phoebe, begins to remember the museum he visited with his class and says: "The best thing, though, about that museum was that everything always stayed exactly where it was." was” (121). The museum is a very special place for Holden because it offers him an escape from the boring responsibilities, as well as the tragedies of the adult world, because unlike reality, nothing in the museum ever changes and nothing bad can ever happen. Later in the day, as Holden watched Phoebe ride the carousel, he thought to himself, “I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going back and forth” (213). Similar to the museum, Holden appreciates how the ride will be found…in the middle of the paper…and how they will wonder what the hell it means, and then some dirty kid will tell them” ( 201). This type of vulgarity infuriates Holden because it is corrupting children and he knows he can't stop it no matter how hard he tries because there will always be someone else writing it, continually exposing more and more children to mature themes. From the novel, it is obvious that Holden is still struggling with the transition as a child to an adult and still has difficulty finding his place in society. It is unclear, however, whether Holden will forget the past and move on with his life, leaving Allie and his other burdens behind. Although it seems that Holden never will able to overcome his childish tendencies and wishes he could reclaim his lost innocence, everyone must grow up and Holden Caulfield is no exception..