The Special Bond between Holden and Mr. Antolini is ruined
The Special Bond between Holden and Mr. Antolini is ruined
In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his boarding school and starts to live life on his own. He travels all around pretending that he is an adult living in hotels and visiting bars. After visiting his little sister Phoebe, he decides to go to the house of his old English teacher, Mr. Antolini. Holden thought of Mr. Antolini as sort of a mentor and someone that he could go to, but that changed ever since his experience at his house.
Even though we only get one small scene with Mr. Antolini and Holden in this entire book, we can already tell that they have a pretty strong relationship. Ever since Holden saw Mr. Antolini helped James Castle after he jumped out a window and died, he has always looked up to him. When Holden needed somewhere to go after he visited his sister Phoebe, Mr. Antolini was the first person that he thought of. Mr. Antolini is different from all the other teachers that Holden’s had. He’ll actually consider the advice that he’s giving him, he pays attention to him, and he wants to hear what Holden has to say and his point of view on things. During their conversation at his house, Mr. Antolini says to Holden, “‘If I write something down for you, will you read it carefully? And keep it?’ ‘Yes. Sure,’ I said. I did, too. I still have the paper he gave me” (Salinger 244). This quote shows that Holden cherishes everything that Mr. Antolini gives and says to him. He usually hates everyone and everything, but Mr. Antolini is different. Holden would never go to any other teacher’s house if he needed help. He would and did only go to Mr. Antolini’s house, and that shows that Holden wants to interact with him.
Now, who would’ve thought that this relationship would blow up? That Mr. Antolini would ruin the precious bond that he has with one of his students. I certainly didn’t. We all thought that Mr. Antolini was this amazing mentor to Holden after their whole conversation before Holden went to bed. But when Holden woke up, he found Mr. Antolini doing something that made him very uncomfortable. “I woke up all of a sudden. I don’t know what time it was or anything, but I woke up. I felt something on my head, some guy’s hand. Boy, it really scared the hell out of me. What was it, it was Mr. Antolini’s hand. What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddamn head.” (Salinger 249). This quote shows the end of Mr. Antolini and Holden’s relationship. He made Holden uncomfortable. I mean, who wouldn’t be uncomfortable when someone is patting your head while you sleep? After that incident, Holden left Mr. Antolini’s house immediately, and they never spoke again. We’ll never know if Mr. Antolini was doing it in a caring way or if he was just being creepy, but he definitely broke the bond that he had with Holden.
Works Cited Page
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown and Company, 1951.
Hi Antje,
ReplyDeleteI liked hearing your take on the relationship between Holden and Mr. Antolini and I can definitely agree that their relationship went downhill after the weird interaction with Mr. Antolini patting Holdens head. Prior to this interaction, Mr. Antolini definitely served as a heroic figure in Holdens life given the way he handled the situation with James Castle and just the words of wisdom that he gave Holden. I think the book had a more ominous ending when it came to their relationship and what Mr. Antolinis intentions were, and you did a good job contrasting their relationship before and after that interaction.
This is always such a difficult scene for me to process, for precisely the reasons you elaborate here: there's so much good potential in the imperfect but significant exchange they have before the head-patting incident, and despite Holden's fatigue, I can see a number of points that do seem to get through to him, and in general I think Antolini is trying to tell him some things he BADLY needs to hear.
ReplyDeleteI do want to consider carefully whether the potential value of Antolini's advice is actually ruined by the head-pat. Does this apparent (but ambiguous) "corruption" on the part of the messenger ruin the message? For Holden, I'm afraid it might--he can never separate message from messenger, as DB's example shows. Once you've lost credibility with Holden, he may listen to some of what you say, but he'll always have the ability to shrug it off or dismiss it. It's maybe noteworthy that, rather than summing up his own ideas, Antolini gives Holden a quotation that contains some real wisdom he could benefit from. He's being very much the *teacher* here, sharing this valuable resource with Holden to contemplate critically on his own, but at the same time, Holden DOES acknowledge that he has kept the note. It's William Stekel, not Mr. Antolini, who makes the statement about living humbly rather than dying nobly--so maybe Holden can learn the lesson from Stekel via Antolini? Would it torpedo Stekel's advice if we were to learn that he, too, likes to pat guys on the head? Or would the relevance and truth of the statement still be potent?
I found this scene really strange too. I think the pat on the head is what makes Holden lose trust in Mr. Antolini. On one hand, it was a caring gesture, something adults sometimes do with kids, but Holden knows he isn’t a child. He isn’t used to that kind of affection and it makes him uncomfortable. He wanted guidance from someone who sees the phoniness around him, not someone confronting him in a way he doesn’t want.
ReplyDeleteEven before this, Holden really looked up to Mr. Antolini. He was one of the few adults he trusted, someone who actually listened and gave advice that mattered. That makes the head pat feel like a betrayal. I also think the pat made Holden realize a possible future for himself, one where he could end up like Mr. Antolini, living a life that is half phony, where most of the time he performs like others expect but sometimes he is not phony with the scene when he picked up James Castle. I think Mr. Antolini patting his head was sort of the coming of age of the novel. A relization that is something is wrong and something is about to change.
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ReplyDeleteHi Antje, I think what you decided to touch on was very important for the story. Mr. Antolini was Holden's role model in a way, and for Holden to experience that betrayal from him was an unfortunate turn in the novel. Holden, our main character who had already gone through so much, was again let down by one of the only people he trusted. What's worse is that this betrayal came at arguably his lowest point in the novel. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Antje, I agree that Mr. Antolini was one of the few people on the "right side" of Holden's world. Especially when comparing his conversation with Spencer's lecture, it seems like Holden is much more
ReplyDeleteSorry, I accidentally pressed send.
DeleteHi Antje, I agree that Mr. Antolini was one of the few people on the "right side" of Holden's world. Especially when comparing his conversation with Spencer's lecture, it seems like Holden is much more tolerant of the "you need to apply yourself" advice. He says that he feels bad for being tired and wanting to fall asleep because it looks like he doesn't care, which is a completely different outlook than in the beginning. However, the moment of the head tap shatters his image, and in a moment Mr. Antolini is no longer in Holden's circle. This may also tie into the theme of Holden's desire to preserve memories and people, like not seeing Jane, not entering the museum, and not visiting Allie's grave.
Hi Antje, I like your explanation on why Holden holds Mr. Antolini in high regard. It was nice to be reminded about Mr. Antolini's involvement in the James Castle incident. I would want to know what the author's intentions were in the Holden head patting scene. Holden takes it as a flitty pass, but later gives Mr. Antolini the benefit of the doubt by thinking maybe he just really likes head pats. I think the scene could encapsulate how people let Holden down.
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