Spencer tells Holden that life is a game that he refused to play. Spencer is a history teacher at Pencey Prep. He did not like to teach Holden. He tries to fail Holden but Spencer failed to do so. Holden hates Ward Stradlater. He calls him a secret slob. Straddler was Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is a ladies man. Holden sees that he does not take take care of his belongings. Holden does not do anything Sunny. Sunny is a street walker. Her real name is not Sunny. Holden's does not have interest with Sunny. Holden never had sex with Sunny. When Holden sees Sunny, all they do is have a conversation. Later in the novel, Holden tells Sally his crazy idea. Holden’s idea was to run away together and live in their own home. Holden
Holden is a very judgemental and immature character and often has vulgar language. Holden often criticizes everyone he comes in contact with and does not try to comprehend the mindset they may have. His childish nature and vocabulary are what make most of his comments laughable. “It was funny. You could tell the waiter didn’t like her much, you could tell even the Navy guy didn’t like her much, even though he was dating her.
Sunny finds his wallet and simply removes the five that she was owed. His inability to deal with the scary situation Holden puts himself into leads to a climax where Holden “started to cry.” Holden wouldn't ever admit that it was a cry of fear instead he diverts it saying he “was so damn mad and nervous and all.” This selection of detail or lack thereof for the reason behind his crying shoes he cannot deal with fear. Prior to Maurice leaving the hotel room Holden receives a “terrific punch to the stomach.”
Holden even hired a prostitute but did not encounter any sexual intercourse. After this, Holden went on a date with a female named Sally Hayes. The date did not go well. After the date, Holden returned to his home where he snuck in to talk to his sister but left before his parents knew he was in the house. He later then visited his former teacher, Mr. Antolini.
Holden does not understand the reasoning behind sex, although he admits he would do it if he had the chance. 21. The author uses the name Faith Cavendish to show irony. Before Holden calls her up, he says “She used to be a burlesque stripper or something” (Salinger 71). This shows that Faith wasn’t all that pure in her earlier years.
Holden is fearful that Stradlater may have done something immoral to Jane and, thus, believes that Stradlater should be punished. He expects that a man “giving the time to” a girl should treat her with kindness and respect. This exposes Holden’s beliefs towards sexual intimacy and exhibits how he feels about relationships. During his physical encounter with Stradlater, Holden uses words of blasphemy in order to get his point across. He yells at him, that he doesn’t even know her name.
He said “I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy.” (page 107 Salinger). Holden had occasional outbursts of anger towards other people. In his dorm at Pencey, Holden threw a punch at his roommate, Stradlater for dating his old crush, Jane.
It's quite obvious that Holden is far from a normal character, but his obsession with sexual interactions seemed disturbing in nature. "In my mind, I'm probably the biggest sex maniac, you ever saw" (). After checking in the Hotel, Holden went to the Lavender Room tried to chat up 3 girls. He then ended up at Ernie's Nightclub with Lillian Simmons. When these girls proved to be uninterested he turned to a prostitute, to talk.
Holden also finds flaws in his roommate, Stradlater. Although Holden admits that Stradlater was seen as "a Year Book kind of handsome guy," Holden still emphasizes how much of a "secret slob" he is. He talks about the razor Stradlater uses as "rusty as hell and full of lather and hairs and crap." He also says that, "the reason he fixed himself to look good was because he was madly in love with himself." This confirms how pessimistic Holden's description of Stradlater was, saying he was disgusting and vain despite being good-looking.
At first, Holden first describes him as “a pretty friendly guy,” though he still does call him out on not being a completely honest person, describing him as a “phony kind of friendly,” he still sees Stradlater as a good friend and roommate (30). In the next chapter however, he becomes frustrated with Stradlater when he starts to talk about Jane, Holden’s crush, with very little respect even though he is about to go on a date with her. As he walks out the door to his date, he asks Caulfield to do a homework assignment for him, letting his cruder and less perfect side shine through a bit. Holden ends up doing the assignment, but does not follow the directions, this causes Stradlater to yell at him for not doing exactly what he said, once again letting his less friendly side show a bit. By chapter six, Holden becomes increasingly more annoyed with Stradlater’s fake personality and attacks him after Stradlater refuses to tell him about Jane.
He talks quite a bit about sex, but his virginity is the last existing innocence to him. Holden pays for a prostitute to have sex with, but he cannot go through with it. He is very hesitant about losing his innocence. Holden wants to be “the catcher in the rye” (191) and save all the innocence in the world. He believes that that is what he wants to do in the future as he tells his little sister, Phoebe.
Although Holden feels ready to get his first time over with, when Sunny takes
Holden says, “This next part I don't remember so hot… I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddamn throat open.” (Salinger 49). In this scene, Holden pounces on his roommate, Stradlater, when he tells Holden he just spent the night with Jane Gallagher, Holden's close childhood friend. Holden had always viewed Jane as a symbol of purity and innocence, so learning that his roommate may have put the works on her leaves him rather devastated. Stradlater is known for his infamous reputation with girls, and Holden knows that deep down
Holden continues to play it off and pretends that the waiter had “insulted the hell” out of him and replies, “ Do I look like I’m under twenty-one?”(78). Holden also expresses his need for adventure to distract from his depression when he “goes against his principles” and hires Sunny and even comments that, “When you’re feeling very depressed, you can’t even think, ”(102). After hiring Sunny he finds that it was not a scenario he wanted to be in and attempted to pay her to have a conversation with him, for he was so lonely. Holden often makes decisions out of the ordinary and as a result, it creates a situations that he either can’t handle or puts him
He says this because he 's jealous and envious of the other guy because Sally wants to hangout with him for a little. Holden makes her upset and kind of mad because the way he said it was sarcastic and rude. Holden doesn’t like him and is mad that he intruded on their date and Holden says, “...he walked about two blocks with us” (Salinger 142). He didn 't like that. When he meets with Sally she is genuinely happy to be with him in the beginning but right when she sees a boy she knows who is more put together then he is and she wants to engage with him instead.
In particular, an instance of Holden’s willingness to die for a noble cause rather than living is his encounter at the Edmont Hotel with Maurice and Sunny, the prostitute who he doesn’t even have sex with. When Holden is confronted by the duo to steal five dollars from him, he speaks out and refuses to pay. His efforts were to no avail though, as he not only gets punched but also his money taken away from him. After pretending to be shot, he finally reveals what he felt like doing, which “…was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window.”