Holden’s reflection on his cowardice and inept fighting ability foreshadows events in the next chapter. He realizes that he is more likely to attack someone verbally. What frightens him most in such a conflict is having to look at the other fellow’s face.
As he waits for the prostitute, Holden passes time by brushing his teeth and changing his shirt. He confesses to being “a little nervous” and admits that he is still a virgin. The truth is that Holden, at age 16, seems to be what we might call a “good kid.” When he is making out with a girl and she asks him to stop, he stops. “No” means no for Holden. He is interested in sex, but he doesn’t quite understand how to get there.
What he learns with Sunny is that he prefers not to get there with a prostitute. The whole scene is depressing rather than erotic for Holden. He has to get to know a girl, and like her a lot, before he is comfortable with intimacy. One of the likable things about Holden is that, beneath it all, he has some healthy values. In addition, he has mixed feelings toward Sunny. She is very young (about Holden’s age) and seems to be almost as nervous as he is. As Holden describes it, “She crossed her legs and started jiggling this one foot up and down. She was very nervous, for a prostitute. She really was. I think it was because she was young as hell. She was around my age.” Holden is depressed that she is so young leading this kind of life. It saddens him to think of her going to a store to buy the green dress that she has worn for him and that he hangs in the closet so it won’t get “all wrinkly,” as Sunny puts it, in her child-like language. When “Jim Steele” says he is 22, she responds, “Like fun you are.” And yet, there is something very spooky about Sunny. Holden tells us that this child with her squeaky little voice is much more frightening than a “big old prostitute, with a lot of makeup on her face and all. . . .”
