The Catcher in the Rye. Post 4.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Another rhetorical question. What would you do if you pulled an all-nighter? Well old Holden here spent it trying to get drunk, find a prostitute, feeling lousy about himself, and smoking a cigarette, all before he is legally allowed to do any of those things (aside from the third activity).

I may have mentioned before that Holden is in a way unstable as a person. He goes through these mood changes so fluidly that it is hard to determine what his baseline attitude is. In the second section, he is mostly depressed but he goes through these phases of being horny, happy, super sad, and angry that it is almost like there are four main characters all at the same time that interchange. Holden also can't make up his mind about most anything. In the second section of the book, he can't decide who he wants to call on the phone, so he ends up not calling anyone. He wants a prostitute but when he finally has one in his room, he feels to scared and depressed to do anything with her. He keeps thinking about Jane but keeps trying to get with other women. He can't decide where he wants to go in his cab or if he wants to go to his hotel room to go to bed. He has what I would like to deem, Chronic 14 year old girl syndrome. Can't make up his freaking mind.

"Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you can't imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed. (Page 98)"