The Catcher in the Rye Chapter 7

After the fight, Holden tries to find some consolation with Ackley, who, after he gets over the shock of Holden's bloody face, is mainly just irritated that Holden woke him up.

Not wanting to return to his room with Stradlater, Holden asks if he can spend the night in Ackley's roommate's bed, but Ackley refuses. Holden lies in the bed and can't stop thinking about Stradlater and how he puts the moves on girls, snowing them in with false sincerity. He's still worried about what Stradlater did with Jane.

Topic Tracking: Phonies 4

Holden keeps saying that everything felt "lonesome and rotten," and out in the corridor, tying to decide whose room to go to next, Holden decides what he really wants to do is leave Pencey Prep immediately. Since he's going to go home Wednesday anyway, Holden decides he can leave now, go into New York City and take it easy in a cheap hotel for a few days. As he packs up his things, his deliberation is broken for a moment only by the sight of a pair of ice skates his mother sent him a few days ago. Holden thinks about his mother going into the store and asking the salesman a million questions (she ended up buying the wrong kind, anyway) but seeing the ice skates makes Holden feel sad about failing out of Pencey and letting his parents down again.

Topic Tracking: Empathy 3

Holden gets his money together, scrounging an extra twenty dollars by selling his typewriter to a guy down the hall, and then takes one last look at Pencey:

"When I was all set to go, when I had my bags and all, I stood for a while next to the stairs and took a last look down the goddam corridor. I was sort of crying. I don't know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, 'Sleep tight, ya morons!'" Chapter 7, pg. 52

Topic Tracking: Innocence 2