Chapter 17

In Chapter 17 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden goes on a date with Sally Hayes, a girl who "gives [him] a royal pain in the ass." (pg.173) however, he is so desperate for company from someone familiar that he goes to see a play with her. This is where we learn the reason Holden hates actors: "they don't act like real people" (pg. 164). Holden hates anything fictitous because it angers hin to see something that is not real but people still act like it is real. After the play, he and Sally go ice skating. There he asks Sally to run away with him and live with him in the mountains. She says that if they do that at all, they should wait until after college but Holden says that it will not be the same. The reason he says this is because he feels that this is their last chance to escape the inevitable. If they wait until after college, then, it will be too late and they will not have any innocence anymore. Sally walks out on him and Holden admits that he probably wouldn't have done it with her anyway but "I meant it when I asked her" (pg.174).