In this chap­ter from “The Catch­er in the Rye,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Hold­en Caulfield, finds him­self in the can (restroom) with his room­mate, Strad­later, while they are the only ones left dur­ing a game. As Strad­later shaves and whis­tles tune­less­ly, Hold­en reflects on his room­mate’s per­son­al habits. He com­pares Strad­later to Ack­ley, not­ing he appears clean but is a “secret slob,” evi­denced by his rusty razor. As Hold­en fid­dles with the cold water, Strad­later asks for a favor—this time, to write a com­po­si­tion for him since he’s over­whelmed with his­to­ry read­ings. Hold­en, still flunk­ing out him­self, finds the request iron­ic and amus­ing, aware of Stradlater’s full of him­self atti­tude.

After some ban­ter, Strad­later wants a descrip­tive piece about any expe­ri­ence. Hold­en is annoyed because he knows Strad­later aims for medi­oc­rity, hop­ing Hold­en won’t make him look good. Try­ing to dis­tract him­self, Hold­en begins to tap dance, immers­ing in his own imag­i­na­tion while Strad­later watch­es. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts to Strad­later’s date, and he casu­al­ly men­tions it’s with Jane Gal­lagher, a girl Hold­en knows well. This rev­e­la­tion excites Hold­en, who recalls how they once played check­ers togeth­er. He talks about her past and her moth­er, reveal­ing a con­nec­tion that makes him anx­ious about Strad­later’s inter­est in her.

Hold­en sees Strad­later isn’t gen­uine­ly inter­est­ed in Jane’s back­ground, only the more sala­cious aspects of her life, which frus­trates him. He grap­ples with thoughts of reach­ing out to Jane but feels unmo­ti­vat­ed. The chap­ter encap­su­lates Hold­en’s com­plex feel­ings: admi­ra­tion for Jane, dis­dain for Stradlater’s atti­tude, and a sense of lost con­trol over his sit­u­a­tion. The atmos­phere is tinged with Hold­en’s dis­tinc­tive voice, mix­ing humor and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, por­tray­ing his dis­con­nec­tion from those around him. He ulti­mate­ly decides to stay back, reflect­ing deeply on his thoughts about Jane while Strad­later pre­pares for his date. The chap­ter clos­es with the unin­vit­ed arrival of Ack­ley, bring­ing a brief dis­trac­tion from Hold­en’s spi­ral­ing thoughts about Jane and Strad­later.