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Throughout chapters 8-13, we are able to see how Holden acts when faced with very adult situations. Through these interactions, we get a better grasp of Holden's social skills when forced to interact with complete strangers and how many of his previous tendencies are still applicable in these situations.

In chapter eight, we see Holden during one of his first significant events after leaving Pencey. While riding on a near-empty train back to New York, Holden meets Mrs. Morrow, the mother of one of his classmates. Almost immediately after seeing her, Holden instantly thinks about sex. He does this by saying, "She was around forty to forty-five, I guess, but she was very good-looking. Women kill me. They really do." The fact that Holden instantly thinks about sex when meeting a girl–specifically a forty-five year old–is both very strange, yet expected at the same time. I say this because a boy his age is definitely expected to be thinking exactly how Mrs. Morrow smoked her cigarette, even saying she, "had quite a lot of sex appeal." But that's enough of Holden's overly sexual behaviors (for now).
about sex, but when they do, it isn't usually with significantly older women. Holden later says, "I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that–although I am quite sexy." The fact that Holden felt the need to defend himself here makes me even more suspicious of his extreme sexual tendencies. Despite saying he isn't "oversexed," Holden's deviant behavior still shows through his oddly specific observations he continues to make; an example of this being when he details

An overwhelming majority of Holden's encounter with Mrs. Morrow is made up of lies. Almost immediately, Holden begins lying to Mrs. Morrow about her son, Ernest. Holden is quick to tell her that Ernest is one of the most popular students at Pencey and that he could have easily won the vote for class president if he allowed everyone to vote for him. Holden says all of this to Mrs. Morrow, despite thinking to himself, "Her son was doubtless the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey." This tendency to say one thing, yet think another is quite popular with Holden, with similar instances occurring during his interactions with Mr. Spencer and Ackley (again, revealing his own phony behavior). Although Holden tried to act older and more "suave" during this encounter, his inability to properly adapt his behavior during adult interactions is childlike and displays a lack of maturity. Another example of this is through Holden's own personal lingo. He calls his reckless lying, "shooting the crap," showing that although he recognizes this poor habit, he does little to stop himself from doing it.

The next strange occurrence during Holden's late-night New York extravaganza is during his first moments in the hotel. While Holden is in his room, he says that he can see into other rooms through the view of his window. Through this view, he details what he saw happening in two different windows. In one room, a couple was spitting water–or some other beverage–all over each other. The another room, he sees a man wearing women's clothing, checking himself out in a mirror. Both of these instances made Holden say the hotel, "was lousy with perverts." Even after saying this, Holden's decision to watch these freakish acts through his hotel window is creepily perverted in itself; he even admitted, "that kind of junk is sort of fascinating to watch," more evidence of his own perverted behavior. Furthermore, Holden would later mention, "I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw," even saying that he would engage in similar behavior "if the opportunity came up." Holden's clear obsession with sex further proves his confusion for the subject and his overall immaturity.

There are two scenarios that I believe are relatively similar. These are Holden's call with Faith Cavendish and his experience with the three girls in the Lavender Room at the hotel. Both of these scenarios are similar as Holden tries very hard to act older than he really is, but to no avail. Holden constantly says phrases such as, "I said, in this very mature voice and all," and, "I said it suave as hell," to make himself sound more distinguished and help himself assimilate with adults. However, none of these situations worked out as intended for Holden. Instead, he was turned-down by Cavendish over the phone and both laughed at and almost completely ignored by the three girls in the Lavender Room.

Arguably the most awkward encounter Holden has had so far is with Sunny. After requesting Sunny's... "services," Holden got ready for the impending meeting in his hotel room. Upon arrival, Holden instantly felt uncomfortable removing Sunny's green dress and as things progressed, he ended up completely denying sex from Sunny and instead wanted to just talk with her. This encounter highlights Holden's still developing understanding of sex. In his mind, he views himself as deviant, saying that he's had plenty of opportunities to have sex in the past, but when those opportunities come up, he never goes through with them. After this situation, I believe Holden has a childlike view on sex, similar to that of an elementary schooler who just heard the term for the first time; he may say that he wants, "to sex Hannah Montana" but he is relatively clueless to what the actions actually entail. Put simply, he's just not ready for sex yet.

In these chapters, Holden continued to show confused, hypocritical, and immature behavior that further suggests his struggle to move on to adulthood. These include, a complicated and confused outlook on sex, the inability to adapt to adult situations, pathological lying, and disobeying of laws.