Mr Antolini
Neil Whitworth (neil.whitworth@dial.pipex.com)
Sun, 07 Dec 1997 19:37:10 -0800
I'm sorry if I'm a bit late on to this subject, but here's my two pence worth on Mr
Antolini.
I think he was stroking Holden's hair because a) he was tight and therefore more
emotional than he might otherwise be(obvious I guess, and b) because he was sad about
what was happening to H. I think (as someone else mentioned) that he had been like H but
had compromised (sold out to a degree maybe) and was sad about that. I think he wanted
"perfection" as H did and had hoped that H could maybe be the one that could carry on
without falling off that cliff. Maybe he didn't want to believe that innocence and
honesty would always be damaged by adulthood, cynicism, maturity whatever. Maybe H was
his last hope and he was seeing it proved that either that innocence would be damaged,
or if the person held out against it, he/she would be damaged.
That's not quite how I think about it all, but it's so hard to articulate these thoughts
(especially when you're as inarticulate as I am).
Cheers, Neil