Chapter 13

Holden is not interested in taking a cab and prefers to walk the forty-one blocks back to Edmont. Over there, the elevator man, Maurice, asks Holden if he’d like the company of a prostitute. Holden agrees, and Maurice tells him that he will have to pay five dollars. Holden thinks of the many times he’d recognized and paid heed to girls’ disinclination to have sex. He tells himself that other boys would perhaps have behaved differently, that they would not have stopped.

He feels that his encounter with a prostitute might teach him enough about sex. The prostitute arrives, and Holden nicknames her Sunny. However, just as she is about to take off her clothes, Holden stops her. He tells her that all he wants to do is talk. When he notices that she is not much older than him, he feels embarrassed and self-conscious. Sunny, however, is not happy about Holden’s reluctance. She is quite enraged, and tells him that she was woken up to meet him. When he pays her the promised five dollars, she asks for ten. Holden refuses to pay the extra money. Sunny is further angered by this and calls him names before she leaves.

Holden’s gloomy outlook only seems to worsen in this chapter. He seems willing to try whatever it might take to dispel the gloom and bring about some cheer. He seeks escapism but does not find happiness in alcohol or women. Though he agrees to meet with a prostitute, Holden is more driven by his need for meaningful human connection than by sexual desire.