WILLIAM GLASSER
437
stantiate that this Biblical association of man's breath with his
spirit or soul has been established in the novel. Holden's act
of blowing his own breath up into his nostrils "to see if my
breath stank from so many cigarettes and the Scotch and sodas
I drank" must therefore be looked upon as a more meaningful
test than simply one of determining if his breath smells. In other
words, the extent to which Holden's breath has been tainted,
in this case by the adult acts of drinking and smoking, is, by
implication, the extent to which Holden's spirit has been corrupted.
After Holden tests his breath, he says, "It didn't seem to stink
much, but I brushed my teeth anyway." To brush one's teeth,
or, to make one's breath smell better, thus becomes equivalent,
in symbolic terms, to cleansing one's spirit. As a result, spiritual
significance is given to bathrooms, where one cleanses not only
his body, but also his soul, a view which is emphasized when
Phoebe's mother asks, "Did you say your prayers?" and Phoebe
answers, "I said them in the bathroom."
Most people in the novel, however, do not keep their breath
clean: Ackley, for example, never brushes his teeth. And most
people, unconsciously or indifferently, breathe their tainted
breath on others, such as the "very Cuban-looking guy" mentioned earlier, or Charlene, the Caulfield maid, who, as Phoebe
says, "always breathes on me whenever she puts something
down. She breathes all over the food and everything. She
breathes on everything." Unlike these other people, Holden tries
to remain conscious of the state his breath is in by blowing
it up into his own nostrils; he tries to keep his breath clean
whenever he thinks that it may smell bad; and he is deeply upset
whenever he breathes his tainted breath on anyone else, especially if he believes that the other person is untainted, as is
illustrated by the following incident, which occurs at the end
of Holden's breakfast with the nuns:
When they got up to go, the two nuns, I did something very stupid
and embarrassing. I was smoking a cigarette, and when I stood up
to say good-by to them, by mistake, I blew some smoke in their face.
I didn't mean to, but I did it. I apologized like a madman.....
