When we last left Holden he was in the Lavender room trying to find something to do. He starts to flirt with these 3 women and they seem amused but uninterested in this young guy who tries to appear older. After a while, they start to laugh at him; they also depress him by only talking about movie stars. This is depressing to him because he always felt that his brother (a movie star) got all the attention. Holden then takes a cab to Greenwich Village nightclub called Ernie’s, a spot he used to frequent with D. B. Holden tries to make a friend with the taxi driver and ends up angering him. While at the nightclub Holden encounter's D.B's ex girlfriend and is so annoyed by her, he leaves the club. When Holden goes back to the hotel, the elevator operator offers to send a prostitute to Holden's room. Holden is unable to loose his virginity to a prostitute so he gives her 5 dollars and sends her on her way. Holden asks Sally out on a date and that also turns out for the worst and the date ends with an argument.
Pages 80 - 174
Quote:
"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 - " (Salinger 159)
Reaction:
I thought this was an important quote because no matter how much he used to love the museum he didn't want to step foot in it. I feel as if Holden is confused and he doesn't know who he is anymore. In chapter 16 he speaks of how much the museum meant to him and how he went there almost every Saturday with a teacher by the name of Miss Aigletinger. Holden says this long and elaborate description of the museum then ends the chapter saying he had no reason to go in except to check if his sister was there. This left me confused because I wonder if something happened to him to make him so bitter in life, to make him so careless.
