Holden does "shoot the crap around" a lot. For me it is sometimes hard to tell if he is telling us the truth or lying to us. I think Holden is a compulsive liar. When he gets going he doesn't know how to stop, and this amuses him. I believe this shows the more immature side of him.
An example of him "shooting crap" is when he is talking to the mother of a student he knows at Pencey on the train. "But I'll bet, after all the crap I shot, Mrs. Morrow'll keep thinking of him as this very shy, modest guy that wouldn't let us nominate him for president. (Salinger 57)" I think that he thought it was really funny telling all of these lies to this women about her son. I think that when he says, "Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it, though, the same week I made it-the same night. (Salinger 63)" he is trying to brag and play it like he is such a ladies man. He makes it seem that girls are all over him and that he is irresistible. I don't think that he even likes doing this stuff with girls he doesn't really like because of the way he talks about Jane. They never horsed around but did simple things like hold hands and he was content with that, he loved that. I think that he is lying about doing these things with these different girls.
I think that a lot of Holdens lies are him trying to seem older than he really is when it only makes him seem younger. Hopefully as Holden gets older he will stop "shooting crap" for no reason.
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