Ch.24 Is Mr. Antolini a mentor to Holden?

Chapter 24 starts out with Holden entering Mr. and Mrs. Antolini's house and ends with him leaving. Mr. Antolini was Holden's favorite teacher and we find out that Holden used to hang out with Mr. Antolini quite often when Holden left Elkton Hills. All of chapter 24 is basically Holden and Mr. Antolini, and his highball Holden constantly point out, talking about life. In some ways I feel as if throughout the whole book, Holden has been wanting to talk to somebody but the moment he gets that chance he does not want to. I also found it sort of funny how Holden failed Oral Expression class which teaches you how to speak and how if the speaker got side tract from the topic (just like Holden does) the class yells digression. We also get to see a soft side of Holden once again when he says "I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice". He says this when he explains how he felt sorry for Richard Kinsella when everybody would yell digression at him. During this chapter it is obvious that Mr. Antolini knows Holden very well, for example, he states " I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don't honestly know what kind". The way I interpreted it was that Holden's abyss is approaching him and that maybe Holden never really crosses back into the "known" world or at least he never crosses back into in this book. In this chapter Mr. Antolini comes across to me as a mentor, he is constantly giving Holden advice but Holden just doesn't seem to be listening. His excuse for not listening was because he had a headache, then a stomach ache, then because he was just tired but maybe Holden just didn't want to listen. At the end of the chapter Holden wakes up from the feeling of a mans hand and it turns out to be Mr. Antolini's hand stroking Holden. Holden then tells us that he has had more problems with perverts than we can imagine. Do you think Holden over exaggerated the whole scenario?

Ch.24 Is Mr. Antolini a mentor to Holden?

Chapter 24 starts out with Holden entering Mr. and Mrs. Antolini's house and ends with him leaving. Mr. Antolini was Holden's favorite teacher and we find out that Holden used to hang out with Mr. Antolini quite often when Holden left Elkton Hills. All of chapter 24 is basically Holden and Mr. Antolini, and his highball Holden constantly point out, talking about life. In some ways I feel as if throughout the whole book, Holden has been wanting to talk to somebody but the moment he gets that chance he does not want to. I also found it sort of funny how Holden failed Oral Expression class which teaches you how to speak and how if the speaker got side tract from the topic (just like Holden does) the class yells digression. We also get to see a soft side of Holden once again when he says "I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice". He says this when he explains how he felt sorry for Richard Kinsella when everybody would yell digression at him. During this chapter it is obvious that Mr. Antolini knows Holden very well, for example, he states " I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don't honestly know what kind". The way I interpreted it was that Holden's abyss is approaching him and that maybe Holden never really crosses back into the "known" world or at least he never crosses back into in this book. In this chapter Mr. Antolini comes across to me as a mentor, he is constantly giving Holden advice but Holden just doesn't seem to be listening. His excuse for not listening was because he had a headache, then a stomach ache, then because he was just tired but maybe Holden just didn't want to listen. At the end of the chapter Holden wakes up from the feeling of a mans hand and it turns out to be Mr. Antolini's hand stroking Holden. Holden then tells us that he has had more problems with perverts than we can imagine. Do you think Holden over exaggerated the whole scenario?

Chapter 22- Catcher in the Rye

When Phoebe asks Holden to name one thing that he really likes, he responds by saying, “I like Allie. And I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff- (pg. 171).” I think that one of the reasons that Holden might treasure his memories with Allie (other than the fact that just loved Allie) is that those memories remind him of his childhood. Holden’s childhood got taken away from him when his brother died. He was forced early on to enter into the adult world and deal with the adult problem of death. Therefore, when he thinks of life with his brother, he thinks of a time where he didn’t have to deal with the darkness of the adult world and some of the harsh realities of life. Do you think that this is where Holden became so obsessed with the idea of childhood or do you think it originated somewhere else?

Later on in this chapter, Holden discusses what he wants to be when he grows up. He said that he knew it was ridiculous, but he wanted to be the catcher in the rye. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d be the catcher in the rye and all (pg.173).” I think that the reason Holden finds doing this so appealing is because he wants to save children from things that can hurt him, and in his mind, one of those things is growing up. Holden has all these problems with the adult words like dealing with phoniness and death, and he wants to save other children from suffering through that alwell. I think that the children falling off the cliff could be symbolic for children that start to become too much like adults for some traumatic even or by learning to be fake or phony. It could be metaphorical for not letting the child within each person die by falling off a cliff; he wants to preserve the child within the person. Do you think this is what J.D. Salinger’s intentions were when writing this section of the book or do you think he had a different reason for Holden wanting to be the catcher in the rye?

This is a picture of a rye field. Holden may have pictured something like this when imagining where the children would run around, and this is where he'd spend his day in his dream job.

Phoebe also tells us that Holden's song saying "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye," is based on a poem. I thought it might be interesting to read the rest of the poem. This is Robert Burns piece Comin Thro' The Rye.

Holden's Compassionate quality: CH. 23

In chapter 23 Holden is still in D.B.'s room visiting Phoebe. While here, he tells Phoebe about his somewhat plans for the future including leaving New York and moving out West alone. However, he steps out of Phoebe's room for a while to call and old English teacher he had, Mr. Antolini. To Holden, this teacher was only the best because Holden could talk to him in a casual way and kid around without losing his respect and all. To me that shows a huge part of Holden because maybe all Holden needs is to be able to talk to teachers, kids, and others in just a casual, kidding way on occasion in order to learn or even just want to hear what the teacher or person is trying to say. On the other hand, Holden calls Mr. Antolini, which he later assumes he might have woken him and his wife up, "because it took them a helluva long time to answer the phone." as Holden says. When Mr. Antolini did answer the phone Holden thought he was very nice to invite him over after he was surprised to hear Holden had been expelled from Pency Prep. When Holden describes and example of Mr. Antolini's kindness he talks about how he went over and picked up James Castle, after he committed suicide, checked his pulse, and wrapped his own jacket around his bloody body, and picked him up. This situation truly showed something to Holden, however I'm not quite sure what it showed to him. Anyways, Holden goes back to Phoebe and dances with her for about 4 counts raving about how good her dancing was compared to other young kids, that she could follow every step you did even if you did the jitterbug, as in the video below, she would still follow right along. Then when they heard the door open because his parents were home from dinner Holden put out his cigarette and fanned away the smoke, then he ran in the closet to hide until his mother left from tucking in Phoebe. When Holden came out it was about time for him to head out to Mr. Antolini's house, so began his good bye to Phoebe, whom made sure he wouldn't leave New York until after her play. Phoebe lent Holden her Christmas money, but he did not want to accept her money she got as a gift, however, Phoebe insisted and she said he could bring the extra to her when he comes to her play. Nonetheless, Holden began to cry, not just a little, but he cried and cried and kept crying on the edge of the bed. His crying freaked Phoebe out but she only sat next to him and comforted him until he stopped crying. Those tears represented the soft side of Holden and it showed how much he truly does care about Phoebe. Then Holden left, giving Phoebe his red, hunting hat, and didn't care much about being super quiet because a little part of him kind of wanted to get caught leaving.

Holden's imagination vs. his actions

Chapter twenty is all about how Holden leaves the bar and drunkenly stumbles home. And in this chapter I can say best something that I've noticed throughout the book. Holden's actions and words have a mind of their own. He consistently makes excuses for doing the things he does, for whatever reason. He is constantly criticizing everything and everyone around him, but never says anything out loud. This leads me to believe he would look like a very quiet boy, but his mind was that of a cynic, like Groucho Marx. Groucho, hence the name, always notices the flaws and errors of people in life, and makes fun of them in a witty way. An example of Holden's mind and actions being separate in ch. 2o could be when he says that "sort of" gave old Valencia the old eye, but she "pretended" not to see him. This is how he would have liked it to happen. In reality though, based on Holden's extravagant story telling, I think we can say that he never gave her the eye. It was probably more like one of those situations where he pretends he's been shot, except he's pretended to give Valencia the eye, and for whatever reason, she chooses to ignore him. I think I found a nice example of how Holden is acting, at least in his head.


The only difference between this video and Holden's imagination is that its happening out loud. Because Holden's mind and actions are separate, people may perceive him as boring and quiet just as he perceives others as phony and fake. And furthermore, since Holden is a quiet person on the outside, he doesn't talk to and get to know many people very well. I think this is the reason he thinks so many people are phony, because most people are boring, annoying, or phony until you get to know them well.

Home at last: Chapter 21

We have finally reached the part where Holden gets home. In this chapter, we read about how Holden gets to his parents' apartment. We also get to learn more about the little sister, Phoebe, that Holden is always talking about. Surprisingly, there aren't any depressing moments in this chapter, which makes us wonder if Holden has finally gotten out of the abyss. As I was reading this chapter, I could clearly see how much affection Holden has for his sister. We see her personality, and we also get to see how much she missed her brother. You can also see how much she cares about him. This reminds me of when my brother would go away for UT debate camp. When he could return after a few weeks away, I would be continuously talking to him about my experiences while he was gone.
Similarly, Phoebe tells Holden about the movie (The Doctor) she went to watch at the Lister Foundation, and also about the play she is going to be in (A Christmas Pageant for Americans). I was curious to see what relevance the play and the movie had to the book. So I searched them up on google and found a book. It's called A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye by Peter G. Beidler. In the book, I found that the refrences to the Doctor and A Christmas Pageant for Americans were completely fake. Why do you think J.D. Salinger made these up? In The Catcher in the Rye Phoebe tells Holden that " it (the movie) was all about this doctor in Kentucky and everything that sticks a blanket over this child's face that's a cripple and can't walk. Then they send him to jail and everything...He fells sorry for it, the doctor. That's why he sticks this blanker over her face and everything and makes her suffocate. Then the make him go to jail for life imprisonment, but this child that he stuck the blanket over its head comes to visit him all the time and thanks him for what he did. He was a mercy killer." What does this segment mean to you? Do you think this is foreshadowing for ahead? If not, why do you think the author specifically explained what the movie was about in the book?