In this chap­ter of “The Catch­er in the Rye,” Hold­en Caulfield recounts a late-night cab ride in New York City, char­ac­ter­ized by a haunt­ing silence and an over­whelm­ing sense of lone­li­ness. The cab, an old and unpleas­ant one, brings him to reflect on the lack of com­pan­ion­ship around him, despite it being a Sat­ur­day night. Hold­en’s mind drifts to his younger sis­ter, Phoebe, whom he wish­es he could talk to.

Dur­ing the ride, he engages the cab dri­ver, Hor­witz, in a con­ver­sa­tion about the ducks in Cen­tral Park. This query sparks a some­what tense dia­logue, as Hor­witz appears irri­tat­ed by Hold­en’s ques­tions about the ducks’ win­ter migra­tion. Despite the con­ver­sa­tion’s tone fluc­tu­at­ing between inquis­i­tive and con­fronta­tion­al, it reveals Hold­en’s under­ly­ing con­cerns about change and sta­bil­i­ty in his life.

After arriv­ing at Ernie’s, a bustling night­club, Hold­en observes the crowd, most­ly com­prised of pre­ten­tious col­lege stu­dents and snob­bish patrons. Ernie, the piano play­er, enter­tains the audi­ence with an over­ly showy per­for­mance, prompt­ing Hold­en’s dis­dain for the super­fi­cial­i­ty he per­ceives in the applause that fol­lows. The envi­ron­ment fuels his feel­ings of alien­ation, lead­ing him to feel increas­ing­ly out of place.

Seat­ed at a cramped table, Hold­en eaves­drops on the con­ver­sa­tions around him, find­ing them both dull and irri­tat­ing. On one side is a cou­ple engag­ing in mun­dane foot­ball talk, while on the oth­er, a self-impor­tant Ivy League stu­dent tells a hor­rif­ic sto­ry about a friend’s sui­cide attempt, all while try­ing to impress his date. Feel­ing dis­con­nect­ed and self-con­scious, Hold­en attempts to reach out to Ernie for com­pa­ny but finds his efforts thwart­ed.

His night takes a turn when he runs into Lil­lian Sim­mons, a girl who pre­vi­ous­ly dat­ed his broth­er D.B. Their encounter is shal­low and insin­cere, filled with forced pleas­antries and emp­ty ban­ter. Ulti­mate­ly, Hold­en’s dis­com­fort leads him to leave the night­club ear­ly, illus­trat­ing his ongo­ing strug­gle with alien­ation and the super­fi­cial­i­ty he sees in the world around him.