Although Allie does not appear as a character in the novel, he is a significant presence. When Holden gets very depressed, he sometimes talks “sort of out loud” to his younger brother. He does so after Sunny leaves. His communication with Allie is almost religious, a confession of Holden’s boyhood lack of consideration for the kid. In the hotel room, Holden repeatedly tells Allie, out loud, to get his bike and join him at the home of a childhood friend, Bobby Fallon. Holden once refused to take Allie with him when he and Bobby were going shooting with BB guns, and the guilt he feels about this incident prompts him to repeat those words, almost in an attempt to take back that day and do it differently.
In bed, Holden has greater difficulty with conventional prayer. He wants to speak with Jesus but can’t. He “likes” Jesus but finds the Disciples annoying and considers himself an atheist. He is bothered that the Disciples repeatedly let Jesus down, indicating the importance of friendship and loyalty to Holden.
