Essay, bringing the gap

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This paradigm continues to play out after the prostitute, Sunny, arrives. Holden chats with her nervously and asks her about herself. After he asks if she minds chatting, Sunny “…[looks] at me like I was a madman” (106). Holden keeps putting off her advances and finally convinces himself that he “…[doesn’t] think he could ever do it with somebody that sits in a stupid movie all day long” (108). Eventually he makes up an excuse about having just had an operation to get Sunny to leave. She asks for five more dollars than Holden was told was the price, and he naïvely refuses to pay her the extra amount. Later on, as he is falling asleep, Maurice, Sunny’s pimp, knocks at his door. They harass him for another five bucks and all the while, Holden spews insults at them, reminiscent of how he handled the conflict with Stradlater. Holden’s stream of vulgarities only earns him a punch in the stomach. Holden doesn’t get up after he is struck. He “… [stays] on the floor a fairly long time, sort of the way [he] did with Stradlater” (115). Holden’s own inner monologue validates that this scene parallels his previous altercation with Stradlater. Once again, Holden completely lacks any understanding of adult sexuality. This is evidenced by the fact that he wishes to get to know Sunny before they have sex. Holden realizes he dislikes Sunny on a personal level and decides against sleeping with her. This is another instance where his childlike concept of how sex should be causes him trouble. Without it even crossing his mind that sex in the adult world can be so transactional; so emotionless. He refuses to pay the extra money, and gets himself hurt.

Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield shows how difficult moving into young adulthood can be. He demonstrates this most dramatically when he encounters adult sexuality. The sexual values he developed in his youth are incompatible with the real world and he is unwilling to adapt them. Time and time again, he fails to bridge the gap between idealism and reality and suffers because of it. Holden is a clear manifestation of the struggle many people face as young adults in accepting that reality does not always adhere to their convictions about how things should be.

Works Cited

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.