19

Holden goes to the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel, a place he now despises for its phoniness, recalling the snobbish bartender and past novelty acts. He orders Scotch and sodas, postures to avoid being carded, and watches the crowd with mounting contempt while waiting for Carl Luce.

Carl Luce arrives, declaring he can only stay briefly, and orders very dry martinis. Holden needles him with sex questions, reviving memories of Luce’s Whooton habit of lecturing about “perverts.” Luce rebuffs the talk and urges Holden to “grow up.”

Probing anyway, Holden learns Luce is seeing a sculptress from Shanghai in her late thirties. Luce claims he prefers “mature” partners and finds Eastern philosophy more satisfying, describing sex as both physical and spiritual. Holden, excited and loud, tries to apply this to his own experience but is told to drop it.

When Holden admits his sex life feels blocked unless he likes a girl deeply, Luce reiterates that Holden’s mind is immature and repeats earlier advice to see a psychoanalyst—specifically, Luce’s father. He mentions analysis would help Holden recognize “patterns of your mind,” but refuses to elaborate.

Holden asks if Luce himself has been analyzed; Luce says only adjusted “to a certain extent.” Luce then leaves despite Holden’s plea for one more drink. Holden concludes that Luce is a pain but intelligent, and he remains drinking, lonelier than before.