You can really see the similarities in Mr. Antolini and Holden as they encompass the “catcher in the rye”. Holden wishes to protect children from the depths and phoniness of adulthood and watch over them in their childhood, whereas Mr. Antolini wishes to make sure Holden doesn’t self-destruct as Holden tries to sustain his very simplified view of the world and childhood vs adulthood. From such similarities and given Holden’s character, I can see how Holden would overreact to Mr. Antolini stroking his hair in the middle of the night, and how severe such an event would be to Holden. Holden had trusted Mr. Antolini to have the same views as Holden to an extent (note that Holden refers to him as MR. Antolini, which is a first), but Mr. Antolini’s actions do not mesh well with Holden’s homophobic personality and his missed perception on such ideas.
Holden really starts crumbling in our last section of our reading. After his conversations with Phoebe and Mr. Antolini, Holden really struggles with coming to terms of his growing up. He is so disconnected with reality that he begins to call out to Allie and believes he will disappear. I think that Holden’s decision to run away from home comes from the fact that he realizes that his view of the world isn’t compatible with the world around him.
My last topic of this blogging for this class will be regarding Holden’s last words: “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody”. The words “missing everybody” seems out of character for Holden. Perhaps at this point in the book, when Holden’s in therapy and recovering, his hard shell of childish cynicism has been broken through. Of course, we will never know how his therapy goes, but at least he’s starting to leave the field of rye. Maybe.
I agree Mark, it’s almost ambiguous whether or not Holden has truly developed and is ready to change his view on the world. Personally I do think he has made progress.
I didn’t pick up on the similarities between Holden and Mr. Antolini. This is an interesting point. I wonder what Antolini’s opinion on growing up is. Maybe he has the same view as Holden, seeing as he may be saddened that he married a much older women for financial purposes and sees a lot of potential yet in Holden.