On Mr. Antolini’s sexuality

During the few days of Holden’s journey, we are introduced to mainly two groups of people: the hypocritical, and the sincere. From MR. Spencer, the headmaster, Stradlater, Ackley in the Pencey Prep school, to Sally, Carl Luce and Maurice he met in New York, Holden has described the majority of the people around him with a clear disgust, and those people represent the phony adulthood Holden is trying to escape from. The other group, including his dead younger brother Allie, little sister Phoebe, Jane Gallagher, and the two nuns, are the ones he thinks as sincere and innocent, whom he’s either trying to catch, or seeking guidance from.

It is quite ambiguous, however, when we come to categorize Mr. Antolini. Holden certainly respects him and considers him the best teacher he’s ever had. He was the one that picked up James Castle and “didn’t even give a damn if his coat got all bloody”. He offers refuge for Holden and gives him sincere advice, and even Holden recognizes “it was nice of him to go to all that trouble”. Then the startling scene arrives when Holden just falls asleep, and feels Antolini’s hand on his forehead, “he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head”. He immediately flees from Mr. Antolini’s apartment. Soon after he arrives at the station, though, he starts to doubt that maybe his initial judgment was wrong and Mr. Antolini wasn’t trying to “make a flitty pass” at him.

Many critiques follow Holden’s judgment, assuming Mr. Antolini is homosexual. They then come to the conclusion that it symbolizes Holden’s failure in seeking a catcher for himself and guidance for future. Ironically, Mr. Antolini becomes the agent of Holden’s “terrible, terrible fall” by violating Holden’s image of him. Holden felt “depressed more than ever” and experienced an emotional breakdown. As Jonathan Baumbach put it, “It is the equivalent of the loss of God. The world, devoid of good fathers (authorities), becomes a soul-destroying chaos in which his survival is possible only through withdrawal into childhood, into fantasy, into psychosis.”(Baumbach 66). This disillusionment was foreshadowed by Mr. Antolini’s failure as catcher for James Castle. He couldn’t prevent the fall nor catch him when he fell, the only thing he did was pick up his body after he died.

But when considering Holden’s point of view, it’s important to realize that he’s an unreliable narrator. Even he himself admits, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life”. Some supported evidence of Mr. Antolini’s homosexuality by examining the facts concerning him. First of all, he’s married to an old woman, although they get along well, it’s suspicious whether love exists between them. The fact that “They were always kissing each other a lot in the public” is highly suggestive of Mr. Antolini’s homosexuality according to Jonathan Baumbach (66), as a gesture of pretence. Secondly, after Holden wakes up and questions him “What the hellya doing?”, he answered “Nothing! I’m simply sitting here, admiring—”. Clearly he’s admiring Holden’s facial features, as some claim, which is another proof of his homosexuality.

The reasons provided are not very convincing, when examined carefully. Mrs. Antolini is indeed older than Mr. Antolini and perhaps not as physically attractive, but she is very intellectual, which allows them to communicate and thus to be built upon it, understanding. There’s no reason why love couldn’t exist between them. Just as she’s old, there’s little likelihood they’ll have a child in the future. Holden comes to Mr. Antolini seeking for a father’s guidance, and Mr. Antolini is also a compassionate teacher. From what he did for James Castle, and his care for Holden, we can indicate that he has a paternal feeling for his students. The advice he gave Holden was after careful thinking, and “he plays the good parent when Holden yawns” by “breaking off the lecture immediately”(Costello 19). Looking at the name “Antolini”, it’s easy to recognize that it’s Italian. Some critiques analyze the meaning of the names in the novel, and this one is certainly highly intentioned. By associating Mr. Antolini with Italians, it becomes natural to pat a young boy which he considers a son, and kiss his wife in the public. It explains the “perverty” behaviors considered by Americans. Moreover, taking into account the drinks he has had, the emotions are even closer to surface, and the patting is a reasonable gesture of paternal love.

Taking a look at Mr. Antolini’s own situations, it’s evident that he himself is leading a “fallen” life. He lives in “a swanky apartment”, goes to tennis clubs, and is a heavy drinker. The “terrible terrible fall” might be his description of his own life, and the act of admiring Holden is essentially an act of mourning his own youth.

This incident is actually very heavily foreshadowed. Holden has problems with his sexuality, that he’s incapable of establishing sexual relationships with women. Remember Carl Luce often gave sex talks to him, “he knew who every flit and Lesbian in the United States was…He used to scare the hell out of us. I kept waiting to turn into a flit or something.” This left a lasting impression on Holden, and thus he has been “prepared to see the evil where it doesn’t exist”(Costello 19). Carl Luce has poisoned his mind, and since Holden is a very sensitive person, he sometimes overreacts to what happens around him. Consider Holden’s description of the scene:

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 hell out of me. What it was, 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 goddam head.

The fact we can derive from this is, Mr. Antolini was indeed touching his head in the dark, but as Duane Edwards argued, “the difference between patting and petting is great: we pat children and pet lovers.”(Edwards 110). There’s no evidence suggesting that Mr. Antolini is making a pass at him, his reactions after Holden woke up seem to be calm. His answer to Holden’s nervous questioning is “Nothing. I’m simply sitting here, admiring—”, it’s only Holden that’s scared and trying to run away. It is unreasonable for him to take advantage of Holden while his wife is in the next room. And what he said when Holden’s leaving “You’re a very very strange kid”, implies his confusion about Holden’s overreaction.

Rather than Mr. Antolini being homosexual, it’s Holden’s own problems that makes him misjudge and misunderstand his respectful teacher. It doesn’t happen by accident, however, if we analyze its effect in the whole story. The role of a Godly figure is set up, as a catcher and guidance for Holden and provides hope. But it is surely to be destroyed, since the story is not to have a positive implication, as Salinger himself claims. It breaks Holden’s last straw, yet the tragedy lies within Holden himself. He rejects the person that’s “willing to help him and treats him as a human being yearning for a grasp of real adulthood”(Costello 19). It is the society that poisoned Holden’s judgment, and in this way he’s condemned by the adult world. It is quite ironic that someone like Carl Luce, who gives sex talks to young boys, who is the most sexually mixed up character, doesn’t need to be analyzed. But Holden, the victim of the poisonous society is considered “crazy”. The arrangement of this incident is in fact the clearest demonstration of the world’s evil. What stimulates Holden’s fall, is not the disillusionment with Mr. Antolini, but the society’s injustice and illness.




Bibliography:
Bloom, Harold ed Holden Caufiled New York: Chelsea house publishers 1990
Baumbach, Jonathan The Saint As a Young Man p66
Burrows, David J Allie and Phoebe p81-82
Costello, Patrick Salinger and ‘Honest Lago’ p18-19
Edwards, Duane “Don’t Ever Tell Anybody Anything” p110
Lundquist, James Against Obscenity p120