The action is really starting to pick up. Holden has escaped Pencey Prep and I have no idea what will happen now, but it will probably involve the types of things that make conservative parents want to ban books. This should be fun.
Chapter 8
Now that he's made his dramatic exit from the dorms, Holden realizes it's too late for a cab, so he walks to the train station. It's freezing, but luckily he doesn't have to wait long for a train. Public transit for the win! After a little while on the train, a woman gets on and sits next to Holden. After a bit of chatting, we learn that she is the mother of another Pencey Prep student - Ernest Morrow. Holden tells us Ernest is an asshat, but he also tells Ernest's mother that his name is Rudolf Schmidt, so he decides to lie to this woman for sport. In short, he tells her that Rudolf is a total charmer. I don't know why he felt the need to do this, but he seems highly entertained by pulling one over on an adult. Eventually, the woman asks the obvious question - what the hell is "Rudolf" doing on a train home two days before school lets out for Christmas? His answer: he is having a brain tumor removed. A tiny brain tumor that will only take a few minutes to remove, he says. Apparently, this lady is completely buying this obvious fabrication. What an idiot. Adults are not being shown in a particularly positive light in this novel. She wishes Holden the best and tells him to come visit her family at their beach home over the summer, and she gets off the train in Newark. (Hey! That's a real place I've been to! Was it sketchy in the 50's too?)
Chapter 9
Holden arrives at his intended destination: Penn Station in NYC. (Hey, I've been there too!) He is in the mood to call someone, and he goes to the phone booth to give someone a ring. He can't call D.B. - he's in LA. He can't call his little sister Phoebe - she's in bed by 9 PM and it's the middle of the night now. He can't call Jane Gallagher, and he can't call his old flame Sally Hayes. He almost calls an old friend from Whooton School, but then he remembers he doesn't like that kid anyway. Holden gives up on the phone idea and calls a cab instead. Out of habit, he gives the driver his home address in NYC, but reroutes him to the Edmont Hotel. I have things figured out now. This is going to be just like The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, except with an adolescent protagonist and way more sex, alcohol, and violence. Have I called it yet? I hope Holden doesn't murder anyone.
Once he's in his sleazy hotel room, Holden spies on some other hotel patrons through the window. They are up to some pretty weird stuff. He thinks about this for a while and remembers that he knows a former stripper through a buddy of his who went to Princeton. He gives this Seabiscuit Faith Cavendish a call, and she is angry that he called her in the middle of the night but still willing to get a drink with him in the future. I don't know how former of a stripper she is... Holden chickens out and declines her offer of meeting at a later date, deciding to instead go down to the sleazy hotel's sleazy club. It's getting all controversial-literature up in here.
-S
No comments:
Post a Comment