J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [115]
As readers accompany Holden through his three-day journey, they encounter a series of settings and characters that contrast to one another and are symbolic of larger issues. Pretense and illusion are conveyed through upscale boarding schools and Upper East Side apartments, while the grimy Edmont Hotel and Holden’s makeshift bed in the waiting room of Grand Central Station speaks to a very different reality. The stark sobriety of Mr. Spencer’s bedroom, permeated by Vicks nose drops, contrasts with the affluence of Mr. Antolini’s apartment, which is cluttered with the remnants of a cocktail party. Mr. Spencer may have greeted Holden bare-chested in his bathrobe, but it was Mr. Antolini’s well-guarded facade of normalcy that proved threatening in the end. Catcher’s shifting scenes amplify Holden’s contradictions and inner conflict. One page finds him drunk in a bar while the next finds him in a school playground. The question presented to readers is whether Holden actually belongs in either of these settings.
When Sunny, the prostitute, arrives, Holden finds her younger than he had expected. The situation depresses him, and he attempts only to have a conversation with her. Sunny is not interested; she collects her money and leaves. During the night, Holden is awakened by Sunny and Maurice at the door. They demand five more dollars. Refusing to pay, Holden fights with Maurice, who bloodies him and takes the money from his wallet. Maurice and Sunny are the most decadent and immoral characters Salinger introduces. They have fallen victim to the darker forces of their nature, to the Tyger of William Blake’s poem. While Maurice is loathsome, Sunny is pathetic and has been degraded, corrupted not only by the treacherous Maurice but also by her compliance with the world around her. If Holden had avoided the fight by surrendering the five dollars demanded, it would be an admission that this is what the world he is about to enter is about: cheating, lying, and tawdriness. From this point, Holden begins to put away his childhood, but perceiving no redeeming qualities in the world he is about to enter, he also begins to despair.
Two nuns appear at the center of the story and signal the point of transition. Their position contrasts to that of the two characters that directly precede them, Maurice and Sunny. Again using the analogy of Blake’s poetry, the nuns are Catcher’s equivalent of the Lamb. Holden is inspired by these women. His donation of $10 to them elevates his fight with Maurice to something approaching nobility. Most important, the nuns are the first adult characters Holden encounters whom he actually respects without qualification. The simplicity, thoughtfulness, and self-sacrifice of their lives show Holden that it is possible to become an adult and not be phony. From the point when he meets the nuns, Holden’s emotional and physical state deteriorates rapidly, but he begins to accept responsibility and change.
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After leaving the nuns, Holden becomes engrossed by a couple and their little boy walking down Broadway. Holden’s depiction of this image is perhaps the most surreal that he offers. Behind his parents, the little boy is walking close to the curb, but in the street. In essence, he is taunting a metaphorical cliff. While walking, the boy sings the Robert Burns song so vital to Holden’s story, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” The boy is in extreme peril. The traffic on Broadway is heading straight for him, and drivers honk their horns and slam on their brakes to avoid hitting him. Amid this commotion, his parents saunter down the avenue, oblivious to the danger. Oddly, rather than being alarmed and angry with the couple for ignoring their son, Holden relates how happy the scene made him. It is possible that, for the first time, the appreciation of innocence outweighs Holden’s feeling of obligation to be the Catcher in the Rye. It is also