Sunny Character Analysis in The Catcher in the Rye

Sunny is a teenage prostitute who visits Holden’s room at the Edmont Hotel. Although Holden told Maurice—Sunny’s pimp—that he wanted a prostitute, he loses his nerve when Sunny actually arrives. For this reason, he asks if she’d simply like to talk, but this strikes her as odd. Before long, he tells her that he can’t have sex because he recently had an operation, but he still pays her the $5 that he and Maurice originally agreed upon. However, Sunny claims that the total is actually $10. Holden refuses to pay this, but Sunny later returns with Maurice and takes the extra money from Holden’s wallet while Maurice punches him in the gut.

Sunny Quotes in The Catcher in the Rye

The The Catcher in the Rye quotes below are all either spoken by Sunny or refer to Sunny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Little, Brown edition of The Catcher in the Rye published in 2001.

The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth. She was depressing. Her green dress hanging in the closet and all. And besides, I don’t think I could ever do it with somebody that sits in a stupid movie all day long. I really don’t think I could.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 123

Explanation and Analysis:

It took me quite a while to get to sleep—I wasn’t even tired—but finally I did. What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve done it, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 136

Explanation and Analysis:

Sunny Character Timeline in The Catcher in the Rye

The timeline below shows where the character Sunny appears in The Catcher in the Rye. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...room, Holden waits for Maurice to send a prostitute. Before long, a young woman named Sunny arrives. Holden is surprised to see that she doesn’t look much older than him and... (full context)

Sunny is frustrated by Holden’s lack of sexual desire, telling him that Maurice woke her up... (full context)

...knock sounds on the door. Jumping up, he opens the door to find Maurice and Sunny. Maurice demands $5, claiming that he and Holden had agreed that he would pay a... (full context)

When Sunny and Maurice leave, Holden imagines that he’s in an action movie, pretending that he’s been... (full context)