Re: Mr. Antolini

Barton (rbarton@bconnex.net)
Tue, 02 Dec 1997 11:32:30 -0500 

I am new to this news letter so I don't know the people yet,
but I like your point. I think you got it.  I was wondering the same thing
too, there had to be something more to that. And I think you got it.




>One thing that has always bugged me about Catcher is the incident with Mr.
Antolini.
> I've never understood it, and I've never been satisfied to dismiss it by
simply
>thinking that Mr. Antolini was making a homosexual pass at Holden, or even
molesting
>Holden in his sleep.  (As with everything in that novel) I believe there's
something
>more important, more duplicitous involved.  After all, besides the nuns and
Phoebe,
>Mr. Antolini was about the only character appearing in the story who didn't
disappoint
>Holden with phoniness.
>
>Until the last time I read Catcher, I always dismissed the Antolini
incident with
>some discomfort, and kept reading.  But last month, when I read it, I got
stuck on
>it and couldn't get past it.
>
>For the first time, Mr. Antolini started to remind me of Buddy Glass, as
well as
>Seymour in "Bananafish". (Although I suppose that's still Buddy, since in
S:AI, Buddy
>admits that Seymour's character in "Bananafish" was more himself than
Seymour--but
>that's for another day...)  He also reminded me of Sergeant X a little.
>
>Mr. Antolini reminded me of Buddy in the way he analyzed everything with
this ridiculous
>wit.  But that's not really important.
>
>The reason he reminded me of Sergeant X and Seymour in "Bananafish" is
because Seymour
>seems to, er...I don't know how to put it tastefully!
>Seymour seems a little bit interested in his little friend.  I don't mean
to say
>that he's a child molester, but I do think that he's idealized children so
much that
>he's sort of fallen in love with them, in a very adult way.  I haven't got
any evidence
>to support that; it's just a feeling I get.  I get the same feeling between
Sergeant
>X and Esme.  I almost get the same feeling between Holden and Phoebe.  When
Holden
>is dancing with those three Seattle girls in the Lavender Room, and he's
trying to
>make a move on the blonde (Laverne?), all he can talk about is Phoebe.
Salinger
>was too conscientious a writer to let so important a character as Phoebe
just waltz
>meaninglessly into one of Holden's sexual escapades.
>
>Writing about it, I was just thinking that Mr. Antolini is what Holden will
become.
> I think Mr. Antolini has fallen in love with innocence in the same way
Holden has.
> Mr. Antolini is also drunk, and I know that when Holden gets drunk is the
point
>where he begins to fall.
>
>I don't know.  I've just always been intrigued with Mr. Antolini.  Someone
let me
>know what you think.
>
>Brendan.
>
>
>
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