The encounterings

Describe three characters encountered by Holden during his time in New York and explain their importance in the novel.

During the two days Holden spends in New York he meets different people that affects him and shows different sides of him. The people that he meets in this period of time are important to him, because he’s going through a critical time in his life. We chose to describe him encountering three different women; a nun, a prostitute and a girl in a bar. These three women are important to his inner monologue and his different perspectives. We can see that they affect the way the novel turns and for Holden they are stereotypes for people he sees every day.

When in a bar, Holden meets three girls and one in particular catches his attention. The girl’s name is Bernice and the first thing he notices is her good looks, but also her shallowness and addiction to the glamorous world of celebrities. Even though he, because of this, thinks that she’s silly and “phony” he makes an effort to get to know her and put up a serious conversation. This proves a certain level of maturity and a will to become close to people that aren’t fitting into his model of acceptance.
When he is dancing with Bernice he partly falls in love her, because of her dancing skills. In a way this shows that he’s capable of liking certain parts of people even though he doesn’t like the rest. A quotation that mirrors this is: “That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you half fall in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.” – page 65

Another female that affects his time in New York is a prostitute at a hotel. Her name is Sunny, and at his first night in the city he orders her up to his room to have sexual intercourse with her. The problem is that when she arrives, he is not able to go through with it. Instead he wants to talk and get to know her, and this shows that he has a deeply rooted respect for women and a strong moral. “She was depressing. Her green dress hanging in the closet and all. And besides, I don’t think I could ever do it with somebody that sits in a stupid movie all day long.” – page 87
This quotation shows us that Holden might not be ready to have sex, so he starts finding faults in her instead of admitting that he’s not able to do it. He doesn’t believe that you should have sex with someone that you don’t love.

The morning after his encountering with the prostitute he meets two nuns in a breakfast bar. The conversation he starts with them exposes a good side of Holden. He respects them and admires their work and in somehow he sees them as some kinds of Catchers in Rye, which he, in his heart, wishes to be as well. “’I thought if you were taking up a collection’ I told her, ‘I could make a small contribution. You could keep the money for when you do take up a collection.’” – page 99

However, after looking at these three confrontations, we can see distinguishing changes in the behaviour of Holden and this alters the book very much. As a reader you get a deeper understanding for his actions and reactions, and because of this we think that these events are significant for the novel.

By Liselotte and Emma