Characters+and+Places

Characters and Places

Carl Luce Holden admits that the main reason he called his childhood friend Carl Luce, besides wanting some company, is that old Luce was always good for a sex talk. That's all he did at the Whooton school as a student advisor. It seems like Carl used sex as a way to make friends and get attention.

Unfortunately for Holden, Carl isn't so much into the sex talks anymore. He's far too mature for that now. Carl tell Holden that he's dating a much older woman, that she's Chinese age 30, and that he's into the Eastern philosophy of sex. What's interesting is how Holden acts around Luce. In this part, we get to see how truly lonely he is. As annoying as Carl is, Holden begs him to stay for another drink he says, "Please. I'm lonesome as hell”.

There's also the question of whether or not Carl is gay. Holden seems to suspect he is, or at least to have suspected at some point in the past. Luce, he says, was always talking about other people being gay, even those who were not.

Three years older then Holden, intellectual guy, highest I.Q. of any boy at Whooton, he went to Columbia now ,