The Catcher in the Rye Blog 3

In the next part of the story Holden goes back to the hotel. As he gets in the elevator a man named Maurice asks him if he wants a good time. The man asks Holden how old he is and Holden lies and says 22. Holden ends up buying a prostitute for a short amount of time. It's crazy to me that this hotel would have prostitutes available, especially for people that are not being honest about their age, like Holden. I realize that this is probably a low end hotel by the way Holden describes it: "The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did." The prostitute comes and is ready to get down to business but Holden stalls for a little bit then decides he is scared and not ready for this. He makes up an excuse that he had a recent operation but he will pay her anyway. One thing I did find interesting is that Holden actually felt sorry and sad for the girl: "I took her dress over to the closet and hung it up for her. It was funny. It made me feel sort of sad when I hung it up. I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody in the store knowing she was a prostitute and all. The salesman probably just thought she was a regular girl when she bought it. It made me feel sad as hell--I don't know why exactly." This shows that Holden actually has sympathy for people despite his tough exterior. The fact that he didn't do what he was expected to do with the prostitute showed that he knows right from wrong and he knew it isn't right for this girl to be treated the way she is.

Later on Holden calls up a girl named Sally and asks her out to a movie. It's obvious that he doesn't like her much: "She gave me a pain in the ass, but she was very good-looking." He probably just wants to spend some time with someone he knows, just to feel less lonely. He tries to call Jane, but when her mother answers, he hangs up right away. I think he's afraid that Jane might be home and if he tried to ask her out he might get rejected. That makes it obvious that he really has feelings for Jane and that Holden really has a soft side.

Holden decides to go to Grand Central Station and have some breakfast. There he meets two nuns who are also teachers. One is an English teacher and Holden tells her that English is his best subject. Holden offers to give them ten dollars as a contribution. I think this is ironic because earlier Holden claimed to be an atheist: "I can't always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible."

I think it's funny that Holden continues to think he's tough and mature, even though he does nice things like donate money and buy a record for his little sister. However, he even admits that he isn't as tough as he would like to be: "I'd have the damn gloves right in my hand and all, but I'd feel I ought to sock the guy in the jaw or something--break his goddam jaw. Only, I wouldn't have the guts to do it. I'd just stand there trying to look tough." I don't know why Holden continues to carry on with this tough guy act when it's obvious it makes him look young and immature. Maybe as the book progresses Holden will realize he is acting very childish when he tries to be an adult and will decide to change his ways.