Holden's Downstair

They weren't going to tell him he needs to go home so he really needed an adult to talk to because his depression was getting worse. Holden called this girl he got the number from from a guy he met at a party. “It was the address of this girl that wasn’t exactly a whore or anything but that didn’t mind doing it once in a while.” (63). Holden made another mistake by doing this because he needed to call his parents or another adult instead of this girl because this girl was not going to tell him he needs to go home. Holden also paid for a prostitute when he returned to the hotel. When she arrived, all he wanted to do was talk. “Don’t you feel like talking for a while? I asked her.” (95). Holden decided right when she came that he just wanted to talk. This did show him wanting to talk to someone about his depression but he picked the wrong person. If he would have realized that he really needed to talk to his parents or some other adult, then it would show him growing as a person. When Holden first asks for the prostitute to come over, he realizes that it wasn’t something he should do but he did it because he was depressed. “Okay, I said. It was against my principals and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn’t even think.” (91). This was another sign that Holden really wasn’t talking to the right person because he knew he shouldn’t do it but he did because he was so

At a bar, Holden finds these women, describing them and typical “phonies.” He ends up dancing with “the blonde one” and teases her, telling her that a movie star was in the room they were. All of a sudden “[he] was sorry as hell [he’d] kidded her. Some people you shouldn’t kid, even if they deserve it” (Salinger 78). Holden is well aware that he has hurt her. He also not admittingly makes a mental not that you cannot do as you please in this world.

Mrs. Antolini, for instance, is forced to do all the chores at home. “Coffee, Gentlemen, finally,” Mrs. Antolini said. She came in carrying this tray with coffee and cakes and stuff on it. “Holden, don’t you even peek at me. I’m a mess”(Salinger 204). Mr.Antolini makes Mrs. Antolini prepare for Holden’s arrival, even though it is his guest and not hers. And on another occasion Holden gets ahold of not one but two prostitutes. He calls one by phone and gets rejected, the second time however he is offered in person by the elevator boy, Maurice. Holden agrees to purchase her for “a throw”. To his surprise she was as young as him. “She was very nervous, for a prostitute. She really was. I think it was because she was young as hell. She was around my age”(Salinger 105). The fact that this book condones prostitution as a social norm is atrocious. It shouldn’t be an option for women to sell their bodies in such a manner and this book makes it seem like a common choice women make. Holden did however make fun of D.B. by saying he was a

Lacking sureness in his own sexuality, Holden’s redundant use of the word “pervert” displays his anxiety over how well he can handle intimacy. Staying in the Edmont Hotel for a night, Holden spots a crossdressing man and “…a man and a

Holden is a misogynist because he views women as objects, either by looking down on them as "brainless" or putting them on unnatural expectations of innocence and virtue. As well as looking at them as a source of pleasure. Holden’s perspective of a woman’s intellectual capacity is clearly traditional and clearly misogynistic. Holden comes to a conclusion that all the females he meets are less intelligent than him, but it’s different with men. Holden believes that he is above the guys at school because he behaves in a more “proper and gentlemanly” manner than they do. However, around the women, he is voluntarily deceitful, and he would still snickers at these women for believing him. On page 57 of chapter 8, Holden says “mothers aren’t too

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

Holden’s date with Sally Hayes exhibited his difficulty at cooperating with others. At first he gives us a dire impression of Sally, “I wasn’t too crazy about her, but I’d known her for years.” (p. 105) Later, he wants to marry Sally and says he is in love with her. The biggest mystery of all when it comes to women is with Jane Gallagher. Constantly mentioning Jane, Holden recalls playing checkers with her before he got sent to boarding school. When his roommate, Stradlater, has a date with Jane, Holden asks him a peculiar question, “Did you ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row?” (p. 42) Holden, jealous of Stradlater’s date with Jane, longs to see Jane but never has the courage to call her. Interactions with other people especially women perplex and overwhelm Holden. He therefore resorts to isolation, illustrating a characteristic of his mental state.

When he comes back from the bar late at night, he encounters the elevator man and tells him to send a prostitute to his suite, yet he fails in his sexual relationship with her because of his sexual innocence caused by his isolation. When the prostitute arrives, Holden tries to avoid any sexual talk, he then tells her that he does not want to do it, he says, “I’ll pay you and all, but do you mind very much if we don’t do it? […] the trouble was, I just felt more depressed than sexy” (Salinger 96). Holden

Yet another issue Holden endures throughout this novel is loneliness . There are many reasons that he is very lonely all throughout the novel. The biggest reason he doesn't talk to anybody is because he is afraid he is going to get hurt emotionally. For example he is scared to call Jane and is scared to let her in his heart because he doesn't want to loose another person he loves, like his deceased brother Allie. Another example of his loneliness is when he meets the prostitute in the hotel. Holden knows that he can have the comfort of another human for a little while, but he doesn't want to do anything with her because he knows she will just leave after they are done having sex. In a way he is looking for something that will last longer, like a relationship, but he is too scared of being hurt . Although, “loneliness is difficult to fess up

What does Holden say he doesn’t want to do while he is drunk at the bar? Why does he not want to do this?

This is apparent throughout the book. He is entranced by them but is still unable to talk to them. “She knocked me out. I mean it. I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.” In this quote we see Holden struggling with his feelings towards women. However Holden is not being sexist, he is simply expressing his admiration towards them. He is slightly cynical towards them but that is not because he is sexist it's because he is pessimistic and hates a lot about a lot of things. "You ought to go to a boys' school sometime. Try it sometime," I said. "It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques." This quote is when Holden is discussing an all boys school. He finds boys much more repulsive and vile than women. When talking about Sally, Holden states “Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I'm crazy. I swear to God I am.” Holden admits his own personal flaws repeatedly throughout the book, especially when he is interacting with women. If he was a true sexist he would have made it the women’s fault that he said that, not his own mental state. This again shows how Holden is not sexist, he's just kind of a dick. The only time that I felt Holden could have been easily portrayed as sexist was when Holden was

Holden then says yes without thinking the answer through. This shows that Holden is not able to think anything thoroughly because something is always bothering him. Holden goes to his room to get fixed up and look nice for the prostitute, but when the prostitute comes he then starts feeling uncomfortable. He then tells her that she should leave and pays her. Holden is trying so hard to find himself in this world but can’t.

This passage proves that Holden is dissatisfied with the boys at his school, he believes they are fake and he does not social well with them. Although Holden doesn’t want to interact much, when he does end up interacting with people, he usually gets the short end of the stick. For instance he invites Ackley, a boy he meets at Pency Prep, along to the movies, but Ackley won't return the favor by letting Holden sleep in his roommate's bed. ‘“I’m not worried about it. Only, I’d hate like hell if Ely came in all of a sudden and found some guy-”’ (Salinger 49). Another instance is when Holden pays Sunny even though they don’t have sex, and ends up getting scammed. At a young age, Holden lost his younger brother, Allie. This had a huge traumatizing effect on him; Holden felt useless because he was unable to help his brother. Holden turns his emotions into anger; stating that he punched out all the windows in the garage. Another time Holden felt unable to help was when his peer, James Castle, was harassed and bullied, leading to James’s suicide. Holden says, “... and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater I'd lent him”’ (Salinger 170). Holden feels that society had

In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden has many conversations with pretty women, and it reveals how he is usually polite and nice to women to a certain point. During a conversation Holden has with a pretty women named Bernice and her friends in the Lavender room, Holden is polite to their faces, but in reality he is only being polite to get something from the three women. As he is talking to Bernice, a women Holden considers pretty, Holden uses foul language, and in return Bernice gets really angry at Holde. Immediately after Bernice begins to get angry, Holden says he “...apologized like a madman, because the band was starting a fast one” (Page 81). Once Holden knew Bernice was getting irritated with his use of foul language, he starts to do anything

According to Holden, the ideal man is a suave and sexy man that can seduce any girl he wanted, with or without her consent. Holden is told that he should have sex with anyone and everyone, and that his statement that he doesn’t want to have sex with a girl unless he really likes her is weak. "You know what the trouble with me is? I can never get really sexy--I mean really sexy--with a girl I don't like a lot. I mean I have to like her a lot. If I don't, I sort of lose my goddam desire for her and all. Boy, it really screws up my sex life something awful. My sex life stinks." (Salinger 59). No one ever told him this position was very admirable. “The thing is, most of the time when you're coming pretty close to doing it with a girl--a girl that isn't a prostitute or anything, I mean--she keeps telling you to stop. The trouble with me is, I stop. Most guys don't.” (Salinger 50). This further indicates that Holden is rather admirable when it comes to sex: he wants the girl’s permission before he acts. All of this proves that the 50’s predominantly male society was entitled to sex with whomever they wanted whenever they wanted