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# Chapter 14 ## Overview This entity is a chapter from a literary work, labeled as "14" and corresponding to pages 54–57 of the source document. It is part of a larger text extracted from the file [Rye.pdf](arke:01KFYRMP38MZY7WVH2Q0JN0CWH) and organized within the collection [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS). The chapter spans lines 2465 to 2625 of the source text and was processed as part of an automated document structure extraction workflow. ## Context The chapter belongs to a narrative written in the first person, widely recognized as *The Catcher in the Rye* by J.D. Salinger. It is preserved within the [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection, which includes canonical Western literary and religious texts. The text was processed by the "Structure Extraction" system agent (arke:01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H), indicating it has been segmented for archival and analytical purposes. ## Contents The chapter details the protagonist’s emotional turmoil following an encounter with a sex worker named Sunny and her associate, Maurice, the elevator operator. After Sunny leaves, the narrator reflects on his deep depression and guilt, particularly over his late brother Allie, whom he addresses aloud in moments of distress. He recalls refusing Allie permission to join a childhood bike trip, a memory that haunts him. The narrative shifts to a confrontation when Maurice returns to extort additional money, leading to a physical altercation in which the narrator is punched in the stomach. Frightened and isolated, he fantasizes about retaliating violently, imagining himself as a wounded hero from the movies, before recognizing the absurdity of such fantasies. The chapter ends with the narrator contemplating suicide, revealing his profound alienation and psychological fragility.

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Chapter 14

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2026-01-27T17:12:16.503Z

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2360 14 2361 After Old Sunny was gone, I sat in the chair for a while and smoked a couple of 2362 cigarettes. It was getting daylight outside. Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you 2363 can't imagine. What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie. I do that sometimes 2364 when I get very depressed. I keep telling him to go home and get his bike and meet me in 2365 front of Bobby Fallon's house. Bobby Fallon used to live quite near us in Maine--this is, 2366 years ago. Anyway, what happened was, one day Bobby and I were going over to Lake 2367 Sedebego on our bikes. We were going to take our lunches and all, and our BB guns--we 2368 were kids and all, and we thought we could shoot something with our BB guns. Anyway, 2369 Allie heard us talking about it, and he wanted to go, and I wouldn't let him. I told him he 2370 was a child. So once in a while, now, when I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, 2371 "Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby's house. Hurry up." It <!-- [Page 54](arke:01KFYTAC4ZACRWZ8SF0HPV6KDR) --> 2372 wasn't that I didn't use to take him with me when I went somewhere. I did. But that one 2373 day, I didn't. He didn't get sore about it--he never got sore about anything-- but I keep 2374 thinking about it anyway, when I get very depressed. 2375 Finally, though, I got undressed and got in bed. I felt like praying or something, 2376 when I was in bed, but I couldn't do it. I can't always pray when I feel like it. In the first 2377 place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the 2378 other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if 2379 you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He 2380 was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was 2381 keep letting Him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples. If 2382 you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic 2383 and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times 2384 as much as the Disciples, that poor bastard. I used to get in quite a few arguments about 2385 it, when I was at Whooton School, with this boy that lived down the corridor, Arthur 2386 Childs. Old Childs was a Quaker and all, and he read the Bible all the time. He was a 2387 very nice kid, and I liked him, but I could never see eye to eye with him on a lot of stuff 2388 in the Bible, especially the Disciples. He kept telling me if I didn't like the Disciples, then 2389 I didn't like Jesus and all. He said that because Jesus picked the Disciples, you were 2390 supposed to like them. I said I knew He picked them, but that He picked them at random. 2391 I said He didn't have time to go around analyzing everybody. I said I wasn't blaming 2392 Jesus or anything. It wasn't His fault that He didn't have any time. I remember I asked old 2393 Childs if he thought Judas, the one that betrayed Jesus and all, went to Hell after he 2394 committed suicide. Childs said certainly. That's exactly where I disagreed with him. I 2395 said I'd bet a thousand bucks that Jesus never sent old Judas to Hell. I still would, too, if I 2396 had a thousand bucks. I think any one of the Disciples would've sent him to Hell and all-- 2397 and fast, too--but I'll bet anything Jesus didn't do it. Old Childs said the trouble with me 2398 was that I didn't go to church or anything. He was right about that, in a way. I don't. In 2399 the first place, my parents are different religions, and all the children in our family are 2400 atheists. If you want to know the truth, I can't even stand ministers. The ones they've had 2401 at every school I've gone to, they all have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving 2402 their sermons. God, I hate that. I don't see why the hell they can't talk in their natural 2403 voice. They sound so phony when they talk. 2404 Anyway, when I was in bed, I couldn't pray worth a damn. Every time I got 2405 started, I kept picturing old Sunny calling me a crumb-bum. Finally, I sat up in bed and 2406 smoked another cigarette. It tasted lousy. I must've smoked around two packs since I left 2407 Pencey. 2408 All of a sudden, while I was laying there smoking, somebody knocked on the 2409 door. I kept hoping it wasn't my door they were knocking on, but I knew damn well it 2410 was. I don't know how I knew, but I knew. I knew who it was, too. I'm psychic. 2411 "Who's there?" I said. I was pretty scared. I'm very yellow about those things. 2412 They just knocked again, though. Louder. 2413 Finally I got out of bed, with just my pajamas on, and opened the door. I didn't 2414 even have to turn the light on in the room, because it was already daylight. Old Sunny 2415 and Maurice, the pimpy elevator guy, were standing there. 2416 "What's the matter? Wuddaya want?" I said. Boy, my voice was shaking like hell. <!-- [Page 55](arke:01KFYTAC5VP5HARXY8Q0XYQXDQ) --> 2417 "Nothin' much," old Maurice said. "Just five bucks." He did all the talking for the 2418 two of them. Old Sunny just stood there next to him, with her mouth open and all. 2419 "I paid her already. I gave her five bucks. Ask her," I said. Boy, was my voice 2420 shaking. 2421 "It's ten bucks, chief. I tole ya that. Ten bucks for a throw, fifteen bucks till noon. 2422 I tole ya that." 2423 "You did not tell me that. You said five bucks a throw. You said fifteen bucks till 2424 noon, all right, but I distinctly heard you--" 2425 "Open up, chief." 2426 "What for?" I said. God, my old heart was damn near beating me out of the room. 2427 I wished I was dressed at least. It's terrible to be just in your pajamas when something 2428 like that happens. 2429 "Let's go, chief," old Maurice said. Then he gave me a big shove with his crumby 2430 hand. I damn near fell over on my can--he was a huge sonuvabitch. The next thing I 2431 knew, he and old Sunny were both in the room. They acted like they owned the damn 2432 place. Old Sunny sat down on the window sill. Old Maurice sat down in the big chair and 2433 loosened his collar and all--he was wearing this elevator operator's uniform. Boy, was I 2434 nervous. 2435 "All right, chief, let's have it. I gotta get back to work." 2436 "I told you about ten times, I don't owe you a cent. I already gave her the five--" 2437 "Cut the crap, now. Let's have it." 2438 "Why should I give her another five bucks?" I said. My voice was cracking all 2439 over the place. "You're trying to chisel me." 2440 Old Maurice unbuttoned his whole uniform coat. All he had on underneath was a 2441 phony shirt collar, but no shirt or anything. He had a big fat hairy stomach. "Nobody's 2442 tryna chisel nobody," he said. "Let's have it, chief." 2443 "No." 2444 When I said that, he got up from his chair and started walking towards me and all. 2445 He looked like he was very, very tired or very, very bored. God, was I scared. I sort of 2446 had my arms folded, I remember. It wouldn't have been so bad, I don't think, if I hadn't 2447 had just my goddam pajamas on. 2448 "Let's have it, chief." He came right up to where I was standing. That's all he 2449 could say. "Let's have it, chief." He was a real moron. 2450 "No." 2451 "Chief, you're gonna force me inna roughin' ya up a little bit. I don't wanna do it, 2452 but that's the way it looks," he said. "You owe us five bucks." 2453 "I don't owe you five bucks," I said. "If you rough me up, I'll yell like hell. I'll 2454 wake up everybody in the hotel. The police and all." My voice was shaking like a bastard. 2455 "Go ahead. Yell your goddam head off. Fine," old Maurice said. "Want your 2456 parents to know you spent the night with a whore? High-class kid like you?" He was 2457 pretty sharp, in his crumby way. He really was. 2458 "Leave me alone. If you'd said ten, it'd be different. But you distinctly--" 2459 "Are ya gonna let us have it?" He had me right up against the damn door. He was 2460 almost standing on top of me, his crumby old hairy stomach and all. 2461 "Leave me alone. Get the hell out of my room," I said. I still had my arms folded 2462 and all. God, what a jerk I was. <!-- [Page 56](arke:01KFYTAC2X7SJZ2QDT18DVDA3J) --> 2463 Then Sunny said something for the first time. "Hey, Maurice. Want me to get his 2464 wallet?" she said. "It's right on the wutchamacallit." 2465 "Yeah, get it." 2466 "Leave my wallet alone!" 2467 "I awreddy got it," Sunny said. She waved five bucks at me. "See? All I'm takin' is 2468 the five you owe me. I'm no crook." 2469 All of a sudden I started to cry. I'd give anything if I hadn't, but I did. "No, you're 2470 no crooks," I said. "You're just stealing five--" 2471 "Shut up," old Maurice said, and gave me a shove. 2472 "Leave him alone, hey," Sunny said. "C'mon, hey. We got the dough he owes us. 2473 Let's go. C'mon, hey." 2474 "I'm comin'," old Maurice said. But he didn't. 2475 "I mean it, Maurice, hey. Leave him alone." 2476 "Who's hurtin' anybody?" he said, innocent as hell. Then what he did, he snapped 2477 his finger very hard on my pajamas. I won't tell you where he snapped it, but it hurt like 2478 hell. I told him he was a goddam dirty moron. "What's that?" he said. He put his hand 2479 behind his ear, like a deaf guy. "What's that? What am I?" 2480 I was still sort of crying. I was so damn mad and nervous and all. "You're a dirty 2481 moron," I said. "You're a stupid chiseling moron, and in about two years you'll be one of 2482 those scraggy guys that come up to you on the street and ask for a dime for coffee. You'll 2483 have snot all over your dirty filthy overcoat, and you'll be--" 2484 Then he smacked me. I didn't even try to get out of the way or duck or anything. 2485 All I felt was this terrific punch in my stomach. 2486 I wasn't knocked out or anything, though, because I remember looking up from 2487 the floor and seeing them both go out the door and shut it. Then I stayed on the floor a 2488 fairly long time, sort of the way I did with Stradlater. Only, this time I thought I was 2489 dying. I really did. I thought I was drowning or something. The trouble was, I could 2490 hardly breathe. When I did finally get up, I had to walk to the bathroom all doubled up 2491 and holding onto my stomach and all. 2492 But I'm crazy. I swear to God I am. About halfway to the bathroom, I sort of 2493 started pretending I had a bullet in my guts. Old 'Maurice had plugged me. Now I was on 2494 the way to the bathroom to get a good shot of bourbon or something to steady my nerves 2495 and help me really go into action. I pictured myself coming out of the goddam bathroom, 2496 dressed and all, with my automatic in my pocket, and staggering around a little bit. Then 2497 I'd walk downstairs, instead of using the elevator. I'd hold onto the banister and all, with 2498 this blood trickling out of the side of my mouth a little at a time. What I'd do, I'd walk 2499 down a few floors--holding onto my guts, blood leaking all over the place-- and then I'd 2500 ring the elevator bell. As soon as old Maurice opened the doors, he'd see me with the 2501 automatic in my hand and he'd start screaming at me, in this very high-pitched, yellow- 2502 belly voice, to leave him alone. But I'd plug him anyway. Six shots right through his fat 2503 hairy belly. Then I'd throw my automatic down the elevator shaft--after I'd wiped off all 2504 the finger prints and all. Then I'd crawl back to my room and call up Jane and have her 2505 come over and bandage up my guts. I pictured her holding a cigarette for me to smoke 2506 while I was bleeding and all. 2507 The goddam movies. They can ruin you. I'm not kidding. <!-- [Page 57](arke:01KFYTAC32NP6E7P2GBHQFNB7A) --> 2508 I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour, taking a bath and all. Then I got back 2509 in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep--I wasn't even tired--but finally I did. What 2510 I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I 2511 probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I 2512 landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory.

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