I am reading The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, and I've found it difficult to interpret the phrase "for a million bucks" in the context below.
Then a funny thing happened. When I got to the museum, all of a sudden
I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks. It just didn't appeal to me.
This is quoted from the last paragraph of the chapter 16 in the novel.
I thought this meant Holden didn't wanna go inside because he felt as if the entrance fee was high as a million bucks. But a Japanese translation of this scene says that Holden wouldn't have wanted to enter the museum if he had gotten a million bucks.
I want to know the correct interpretation in this scene. I'd appreciate it if you would answer my question.
Best Answer
Your interpretation of
to mean
is not 100% wrong. In the following dialogue, it would indeed mean "the fee is a million dollars":
But in the passage you've quoted, a well-known idiom is formed. It is signaled by the negated subjunctive:
is an expression of