The Catcher in the Rye

1
The Catcher in the Rye

• Chapters 13-15

2
Holdens Experience with Sex

• Desires company not sexual relations
• Indicates his lack of understanding about sex
• I was already sort of sorry Id let the thing
  start rolling, but it was too late (91)
• I kept hoping shed be good-looking. I didnt
  care too much, though (93)
• Skewed Perspective
• Immaturity
• Sees it from different perspective
• I was getting more and more nonchalant as it
  went along (94)
• It was a funny thing to say. It sounded like a
  real kid. Youd think a prostitute and all would
  say Like hell you are or Cut the crap
  instead of Like fun you are (94)

3
Holdens Experiences with Sex

• Regret
• Not what Holden had intended
• I certainly felt peculiar when she did that. I
  mean she did it so sudden and all. I know youre
  supposed to feel pretty sexy when someone gets up
  and pulls their dress over their head, but I
  didnt. Sexy was about the last thing I was
  feeling. I felt much more depressed than sexy
  (95).
• Doesnt want to see her as a prostitute
• Doesnt want to see sex as casual without
  intimacy
• 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 It made me feel sad as hell-
  I dont know why exactly (96).

4
Holdens Loneliness and Breakdown

• Isolates himself
• I didnt do it because I felt like walking or
  anything. It was more because I didnt feel like
  getting in and out of another taxicabBut it was
  freezing cold, and I took my red hunting hat out
  of my pocket out and put it on- I didnt give a
  damn how I looked, I even put the earlaps down
  (88)

5
Holdens Loneliness and Breakdown

• Leads to him feeling isolated and depressed
• I wasnt sleepy or anything, but I was feeling
  sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost
  wished I was dead (90)
• It was against my principles and all, but I was
  feeling so depressed I didnt even think. Thats
  the whole trouble. When youre feeling very
  depressed, you cant even think (91).

6
Holdens Loneliness and Breakdown

• Allie
• I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you
  cant imagine. What I did, I started talking,
  sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes
  when I get very depressed (98)
• Begins to think hes dying
• Only, this time I thought I was dying. I really
  did. I thought I was drowning or something (101)
• What I really felt like, though, was committing
  suicide (104)

7
Holdens Interaction

• Talks to nuns- happy
• I said Id enjoyed talking to then a lot, too.
  I meant it, too (112)
• First time we see Holden happy
• Having positive interaction
• Turns the situation to a negative aspect-
  increasing breakdown
• After they left, I started getting sorry that
  Id only given them ten bucks for their
  collection (113)