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As they got into the cab, Holden and Sally started "horsing" around. As things started heating up, the car abruptly stopped in traffic and he almost fell off the seat. Holden demonstrated how crazy he was by telling Sally that he loved her as they were coming out of this "big clinch". Sally responded to him saying "Oh, darling, I love you too" (Salinger 139) Connecting to the previous scene, Holden always tends to jump the gun when it comes to women, and doesn't have proper control over emotions and says things at times just to say them.

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"She looked terrific. She really did. She had on this black coat and sort of a black beret. She hardly ever wore a hat, but that beret looked nice. The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I'm crazy."(Salinger 124).

Holden is meeting up with Sally in this particular quote. As she is approaching him, he is noticing every detail about her. He describes everything she is wearing and acts as if he is in love with her. This matters because Holden is very inconsistent with his feelings. He acts as if he is obsessed with her when she is meeting up with him, but he even goes on to say how he does not like her that much.

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" 'You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth' Boy, did she hit the ceiling when I said that I know I shouldn't've said it...but she was depressing the hell out of me"(Salinger 133).

Holden previously acted like he wanted to be with Sally and even went as far as to canoodle with her in the cab ride. Fast forward later in their date, Holden gets bored of her and proceeds to insult her. This is important because Holden does not know how to be in a relationship, let alone go on a date without thinking the other person is a bore. He likes to talk a lot of nonsense, while Sally is not even paying attention to him. Because Sally was not feeding into his delusions he got annoyed with her.

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"Anyway, that's who Jane dated that night. I couldn't understand it. I swear I couldn't." (Salinger 150)

"I gave old Jane a buzz but her phone didn't answer, so I had to hang up." (151)

He had a date with Sally and as soon as she left his mind shifted and started thinking immediately about Jane. That is how one can tell that he uses all those other girls as a distraction, when in the end Jane always it the last girl to pop up in his mind. He does, to some extent, care for Jane a lot which does seem to be the consistent emotion through all his indecisiveness and interactions with women that he has encountered so far. He had already gotten into an argument towards the beginning with Straddler, and showed his genuine affection for her when they were playing chess. Him needing many distractions; women, smoking, and alcohol is the way that he copes with his negative and chaotic emotions.

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"He once told Allie and I that if he'd had to shoot anybody, he wouldn't've known which direction to shoot in" (Salinger 155/156).

He recalls a scene where him and his brothers were talking about the army, after Holden watched that movie by himself. He remembers that Allie and D.B. were both into literature, and he explains how he could never be able to enlist for the army. It shows that he wouldn't be able to even handle it, if this is how he is already coping with his depression and struggles, it would have been harder on him in the army. Or it could have also possibly changed him and taught him to appreciate the small things and not take advantage of it, also not to waste away money on stupid things.

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"So what I did finally, I gave old Carl Luce a buzz. He graduated from the Whooton School after I left. He was about three years older than I was, and I didn't like him too much, but he was one of these very intellectual guys-- he had the highest I.Q. of any boy at Whooton--and I thought he might want to have dinner with me somewhere and have a slightly

intellectual conversation"(Salinger 136).

Holden ended the date with Sally after insulting, then proceeded to think about Jane and now he's calling up an old friend from his previous school. This matters because all Holden does is distract himself and live in the past. He is always trying to reconnect with people he knew years ago. In addition to that he always analyzes the people he is talking about and says he doesn't like them but then wants to meet up with them for the fun of it.

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"Old Luce. What a guy. He was supposed to be my Student Advisor when I was at Whooton. The only thing he ever did, though, was give these sex talks talk and all, late at night when there was a bunch of guys in his room" (Salinger 158). This is important because Holden always has to bring up sex whenever he is describing people or having a conversation. Holden has very mixed feelings about this topic so when he gets the chance, he talks about it through someone else. It shows his innocence and imagination in one because he does not know for sure what it is all about. In addition, Holden does not have firsthand experience so he may believe anything he hears from other people like Old Carl Luce.

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" 'In her late thirties? Yeah? You like that?' I asked him. 'You like 'em that old?' The reason I was asking was because he really knew quite a bit about sex and all. He was one of the few guys I knew that did. He lost his virginity when he was only fourteen, in Nantucket" (Salinger 161).

Holden looks up to Carl Luce mostly for the fact that he has a successful sex life. He mentioned earlier a few chapters before how he was gotten close to losing his virginity and then didn't know whether he should stop or not. This simply exemplifies even more how Holden is not in touch with his emotions and to deal with things he tries to distract himself by stupid things like talking to Carl Luce mainly about sex. Back in chapter 14 we saw that he was feeling depressed in a way and tried to deal with it by paying Sunny 10 bucks to have sex, using this as a common coping mechanism in the sense of either just thinking about it or acting on those thoughts. Towards the end of the sex conversation Carl mentions that Holden is still immature, and that he should have taken his advice to see a psychoanalyst which would maybe help him in handling his emotions and his sex life.

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" 'Have just one more drink," I told him. Please. I'm lonesome as hell. No kidding' "(Salinger 165). This matters because it goes back to the idea of Holden always trying to distract himself and to just get by, by having drinks and smoking and talking about sex. Holden is always recalling people from his past to find some comfort during these times when he has no one. He always is doing something to keep his mind off of bad things and when he meets up with Carl Luce the conversation is not intelligent. Holden compares himself to Carl Luce about their individual sex life, trying to make himself something he is not. Luce also reminds Holden that it might be beneficial for Holden to see a psychoanalyst, but then says that he doesn't care about what he does with his life. With Holden looking up to Carl Luce he considers what he says and maybe in doing so that would help him get though the things he's been through.