13

Holden walks forty-one blocks back to the Edmont to avoid another cab, putting on his red hunting hat in the freezing cold. On the way, he broods about his stolen gloves and his own “yellowness,” admitting he fears confrontations and hates fistfights, which deepens his depression.

Thinking a drink might help, he nearly enters a bar but skips it and returns to the empty, stale-smelling lobby. In the elevator, the operator, Maurice, solicits him for a prostitute at five dollars a “throw” or fifteen till noon. Feeling low, Holden agrees to a single “throw” and gives his room number.

Back in his room, he fusses with his appearance and reflects on his virginity and tendency to stop when girls say stop, revealing anxiety about sex and competence. When the prostitute, Sunny, arrives—young, nervous, and businesslike—Holden tries to be suave, invents the name “Jim Steele,” and awkwardly attempts small talk.

As Sunny undresses and urges him to hurry, Holden feels sad and more depressed than aroused, imagining her as an ordinary girl buying her dress. He asks to just talk and then backs out entirely, lying about a recent “clavichord” operation. Sunny sits on his lap, irritated and skeptical, but he insists on paying without sex and hands her five dollars.

Sunny demands ten; Holden insists Maurice quoted five. After a tense exchange, she dresses, coldly accepts the five, and leaves with a parting insult, “So long, crumb-bum.” Holden’s failed encounter highlights his isolation, guilt, and fear of adult intimacy, and it seeds further conflict over the disputed fee.