The Catcher in the Rye

Holden wakes up around 10 o’clock in the morning and thinks about calling Jane, but he calls Sally Hayes instead. He doesn’t like Sally much, but he invites her to join him for a matinee later in the day, then chats with her awhile, even though he finds her annoying. After the phone call, he gets up and checks to see if anything interesting is going on out his window before heading downstairs. He gets a cab and goes to Grand Central Station, where he stows his bags for the day.

At the station, he gets breakfast at a sandwich bar. Two nuns sit down next to him, and he helps them with their suitcases. The bags are cheap, which reminds him of his old roommate, Dick Slagle, who had cheap suitcases. Holden felt self-conscious about his fancy ones and started to put them under his bed, but Dick liked them being out because he could claim they were his when they had visitors. Holden remembers Dick Slagle calling him bourgeois all the time—first as a joke, then not—until they finally asked to change roommates. He realizes that it’s hard to be friends with someone from a different economic class.