In this chapter Holden goes to visit Mr.
Antolini. It is very late at night when Holden arrives at Mr.Antonlini’s
apartment and Holden tells us that Mr. Antolini is tipsy from the highballs
that he continually drinks throughout the chapter. Mr. Antolini asks Holden what
he did not like about Pencey and Holden begins to tell him about Mr. Vinison's Oral Expression class. Holden does not really talk about his personal
experience in the class instead he talks about a fellow classmate who he describes
as being a nervous guy who is not very good at staying on topic. From the way Holden narrates The Catcher in The Rye we are able to tell
that Holden also has trouble staying on topic. Do you think there is a reason
why Holden does not share his experience giving a speech? Do you possibly think
that the boy that Holden is talking about is himself, and he just does not want
to admit it to Mr. Antolini? Holden all of a sudden become extremely tired and
wishes to continue the conversation in the morning, but Mr. Antolini seem eager
to give his advice and share his wisdom. Mr. Antolini tells Holden “I have a feeling that you’re
riding for some kind of terrible, terrible fall(p. 186).” Mr. Antolini
continues to give his advise but Holden unwillingly yawns and Mr. Antolini
helps Holden get ready for bed. Before heading off Mr. Antolini says, “All
right. good night, handsome(pg. 191).” While putting together Holden's bed Mr. Antolini tries to talk to Holden about girls, but Holden is to tired to keep a good conversation. As Holden is getting ready for bed he
realizes that Mr. Antolini forgot to let him borrow some clothes so Holden just
sleeps in his shorts. Holden frantically wakes up and sees Mr. Antolini petting
his head. Holden gets extremely nervous because he think that Mr. Antolini is
making an advance on him. Holden makes up an excuse and says he has to go.
Later Holden reveals that this has happened to him before. I personally believe
that Mr. Antolini’s actions were not as innocent as he tried to make them seem.
I believe this because Mr. Antolini calls him “handsome”, asks him about girls,
and he “forgets” to give Holden some extra clothes. What do you think of Mr.
Antolini’s suspicious head petting? What do you think of Holden’s response? Do
you think he reacted appropriately?
I think that Mr. Antolini's head petting was VERY wierd. First of all, in Holdens position, having to spend the night at a old teacher's house was kind of awkward, but having to waking up to his teacher petting his head was a lot worse. I think that Holden may have responded to aggresively by storming out so fast and lying to him, but at the same time, I think that it was right for him to leave Mr. Antolini's house. Even thought Mr. and Mrs. Antolini's welcomed him with open arms, I think that going back to bed after waking up to that would have been uncomfortable for Holden. And although Mr. Antolini helped Holden and gave him advice, I do think that Holden reacted appropriately by leaving Mr. Antolini's house.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ana, I believe his head petting was very strange. I mean it is kind of weird to wake up with an old, supportive teacher of you petting your head when you wake up after spending a night at his house. That sends the wrong message. I think Holden's response was the correct one because I could see that Holden was indeed uncomfortable for Holden. I don't think that Holden would have wanted to stay and talk about it because he was probably going crazy in his head when this happened. He didn't know exactly how to react in this situation and I agree with his choice because frankly no one probably goes through this.
ReplyDeleteYour observation that he could actually be talking about himself instead of the Richard Kinsella guy is very interesting and possible and I didn't think about that until I read this blog post. I believe that we can't truly know whether or not Mr. Antolini's intentions were to make a pedophilic advance on Holden or a simple fatherly gesture, as Holden can be described as an unreliable narrator who might leave something out or present a biased point of view. Either way, Holden's descision to get the hell out of there was a good choice, as teachers do not normally pet their former students.
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point about the Richard Kinsella possibly being Holden however I don't think that's the case. But you are right that they are both similar and the way Holden describes him sounds a bit like Holden's narration. Holden does seem to ramble on sometimes and mention a subject, tell us he won't get into it, and then get into it anyway. The class was clearly not for him since he tends to talk like this in the first place. As for Mr. Antolini, I have a hard time deciding whether his actions are a result of drunkenness or him making inappropriate advances. While he did have a lot to drink, Holden mentioned that he had pet him on the head before in the past so him being drunk might just be a coincidence. Calling him handsome adds to the inappropriateness of the situation as well as not leaving him some extra clothes. I think Holden made the right decision to leave since Mr. Antolini was beginning to act more perverted. Mr. Antolini was genuinely making him feel uncomfortable so it wasn't rude to tell him he needed to leave and most people would respond the same way.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the action was out of the blue and apparently random to the reader. However, I agree with you that Mr. Antolini was not as innocent as he appeared to be in that situation. I really think it is suspicious in the first place just because he was petting his head, which is not a very normal thing to do at all. Then, adding on the fact that he called him handsome and asked Holden about girls makes me believe that he really was trying to make an advance on Holden. As to whether Holden reacted right to the situation, I think that he might have had a better time if he had reacted calmly, and made a logical excuse so that Mr. Antolini, who must care about him to some degree, doesn't worry about him. Although, when you wake up early in the morning with a man you assumed you knew pretty well petting your head, you may be in a rush to get out too. So, in the end, I think Holden's reaction did at least allow him to escape that situation.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Mr. Antolini's "head petting" was over the line and inappropriate, especially considering the fact that Holden was sleeping the entire time and was only woken by Mr. Antolini's patting. This does affect my opinion on Mr. Antolini. Before this moment, he was acting like a true mentor and was really giving Holden some great and useful advice. I think that Mr. Antolini would have been a good mentor for Holden if he had not crossed the line with the inappropriate physical contact. Holden's reaction to Mr. Antolini was appropriate. He felt uncomfortable and he had the right to, it was a very awkward situation. I would have also had the same reaction, leaving the house and getting as far away from the home as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think that Mr. Antolini was doing exactly what Holden thought he was doing. Holden thought that Mr. Antolini was making an advance on him. While However, I don’t think that him forgetting to give Holden clothes, and calling him handsome were intentional. Calling him handsome was just a way of him saying by and I don’t think that was implying anything. On the other hand, Holden notices that Mr. Antolini still had the drink in his hand and was obviously drunk when Holden woke up. However, I think that his drunkenness may have actually revealed what type of person he actually is and revealed his true colors. I think that Holden acted appropriately. Holden was even fairly relaxed considering the situation. Even though Holden was rushing out, you would suspect that he would not try to make any excuses to Mr. Antolini but rather just ran out in fear. I think saying that Holden overreacted would be foolish and ridiculous considering Mr. Antolini’s behavior.
ReplyDelete