“While I waited, I got some snow in my hand and washed my face with it.” (53)
INTRATEXTUAL:
After his decision to leave Prency Prep School before the winter vacation starts, he walks all the way to the train station in the freezing weather. As Holden was covered in blood, due to the fight with Stradlater, he decides to wash his face with the snow beneath him while waiting for the train to arrive. When looking back in the book Holden mentions how “the car looked so nice and white” (36). The car was covered in snow. It is evident that he likes the purity the snow has. Throughout this novel, the readers can perceive the pain that comes with growing up. Despite Holden seeming to want to grow up quickly and acts quite mature, through this context the readers can infer his wish to hold on to innocence. For …show more content…
This symbolizes his desire to grasp onto his innocence, his youthfulness. When reading the quote above, how he washed his face with the snow underneath him depicts this immensely. He wanted to wash the impurity within him. Therefore, the quote above demonstrates how Holden yearns to keep the innocence he once had as a child, like the pure white snow he is walking on. “Except for a few pimpy-looking guys, and a few whory looking blondes, the lobby was pretty empty.” (69)
EXTRATEXTUAL:
Holden decides to go downstairs to the Lavender Room, a night club, hosted in the hotel he is staying in at the moment. While changing into a clean shirt, he gets the urge to call Phoebe, which leads to him explaining what she is like. After he finished putting his shirt on, he takes the elevator to the lobby, in which he meets a few “pimpy-looking guys, and a few whory blondes” (69) in the lobby. The way Holden depicts these people demonstrates how judgemental and stereotypical he is. These people in the lobby are people Holden has never