What is the name of the pimp who punches Holden?

The pimp who punches Holden is Maurice. Maurice is the elevator operator at the Edmont Hotel, where Holden is staying, and he also arranges prostitution for hotel guests. He offers to send Sunny to Holden’s room for five dollars.

Holden becomes uncomfortable when Sunny arrives and tells her he cannot have sex, although he still pays the agreed five dollars. Sunny later returns with Maurice and demands another five dollars. When Holden refuses, Maurice punches him in the stomach while Sunny takes the extra money from Holden’s wallet.

The episode is important because it exposes Holden’s vulnerability and his confused attempt to act older than he feels. He seeks company but is unable to manage the adult sexual situation he has initiated. Readers sometimes confuse Maurice with Sunny, the prostitute, or with Horwitz, the taxi driver Holden meets earlier. Stradlater is another aggressive figure in the novel, but he is Holden’s former roommate at Pencey, not the hotel pimp.