Chapters 24-26

Chapter 24

Holden reveals that he has known Mr and Mrs Antolini for quite some time and that they have a close relationship with the family. When Holden arrives, Mr Antolini receives him warmly. He soon reveals that he is very concerned about Holden's state. Mr Antolini takes great care in wording his concerns. His analysis of Holden's problems go much deeper than either Carl Luce's or Phoebe's as he warns Holden that he is headed for a fall. His insightfulness is demonstrated through his accuracy in describing Holden's hatred for people and also by alluding to Holden's preoccupation with the ducks in central park when he talks about Holden as being like someone who is 'looking for something that their own environment couldn't supply' (p169). Mr Antolini also expresses concerns for Holden's death. Holden wakes to find Mr Antolini patting his head. Taking this as a sexual advance, Holden flees into the night.

Analysis

Mr Antolini is the last character the reader encounters. He is, by far, the most insightful character and, as such, is a good way to explain in some of Holden's problems coherently. This coherence is particularly effective as it ties together a number of the themes that have been developed by Holden, albeit through sporadic digressions. On page 168 Mr Antolini explains the dangers of hating people, something that Holden is already doing. On page 169, Mr Antolini discusses the problems of environments that cannot support a person - this ties in with Holden's preoccupation with the ducks and Central Park. Also on page 169, Mr Antolini discusses the concept of death. It is interesting to note that Wilhelm Stekel is well known as an antagonistic man who drove away his colleagues, friends and eventually his wife.

Because of the unreliability of the narrator, this third-person perspective helps the reader to understand the truth of the situation. Mr Antolini is also important as he acts as a kind of father figure. This is demonstrated by his link to the Caulfield family and the fact that he was in a position to give advice to D.B.

The supposedly sexual advance made by Mr Antolini is a subject of debate. Some sides will argue that Mr Antolini is a homosexual, citing the age of his wife and their seeming lack of passion, although this is open to interpretation. Others argue that it is simply a misunderstanding on Holden's part, and certainly Mr Antolini is portrayed as a father figure for whom this might be a natural reaction. This would certainly follow the past few chapters where the reader finds more reliable information from other characters. Can you find any reason not to trust Mr Antolini in this instance? This would demonstrate the level of Holden's paranoia and his fear of intimacy.

Chapter 25

After leaving Mr Antolini's apartment, Holden has used all of his contacts except for Jane and his parents. He spends an uncomfortable night in Grand Central Station. When he wakes, he reads a medical magazine and becomes paranoid about the illnesses that are described. When he leaves Grand Central he becomes physically sick and delusional. His health, both physical and mental, is in stark contrast to the Christmas cheer that surrounds him. As he walks he becomes disorientated and feels every time he crosses the street that he is sinking. He begins talking to Allie as he is walking. By this stage he is well and truly mentally ill. He then rashly decides to leave. He decides to go out west and to pretend to be a deaf mute so that he does not have to listen or talk to anyone. In his delusional state he believes that he might find a deaf mute wife while he is there. He decides to say goodbye to Phoebe before he leaves.

Holden goes to Phoebe's school and leaves a note for her. While he is there he recalls the building as it was the same school that he attended. Holden is wildly offended by graffiti on the wall that reads 'fuck you'. He rubs this off. He waits for Phoebe at the museum where he finds more graffiti. Holden comes to an important realisation here that 'you couldn't rub out even half the 'Fuck you' signs in the world. It's impossible.' (p182) He finds a moment of peace as he shows some boys the mummy exhibition in the museum. He goes to the toilet because he has diarrhoea and collapses. The reader can see that Holden is a very sick boy.

When Phoebe arrives she is carrying a trunk and demands to leave with Holden. Holden, seeing her distress, decides to stay in New York after all. Phoebe throws Holden's red cap in his face and refuses to speak to him. Holden nevertheless coaxes her to the zoo where he buys her a ride on a carousel. It starts to rain and Holden begins to cry as he watches Phoebe go around and around. As she reaches for the gold ring, Holden realises that he cannot stop her from growing up and needs to let her make her own decisions.

Analysis

Holden is at the lowest point of physical and mental weakness. It is Phoebe's reaction to his leaving and the realisation that he cannot stop the graffiti that helps Holden to see more clearly. For Holden, the graffiti symbolises the futility of trying to protect children from the adult world. Phoebe's reaction reveals that his actions are also having a negative impact.

On carousels of the time, a 'gold ring' was placed in the centre. Riders could reach for the gold ring and if they got hold of it they received a free ride. Interestingly, this practice was stopped because it was dangerous. As he watches Phoebe, Holden realises that he cannot stop children from growing up and that they may need to fall every now and again in order to achieve their goals. The reader hopes that Holden can apply this realisation to his own life and decide to face his problems even if the consequences might be difficult.

Chapter 26

Chapter 26 is the epilogue to the novel. Holden decides to leave his story there, even though events happen afterwards. You need to consider why Holden has chosen this time frame. Perhaps it is because it maps the start of his downfall and takes him to the depths of depression. By the end of the novel it seems as though Holden can see a way out. Holden hopes that he will apply himself when he goes to his new school but cannot be sure. He has not made up his mind about what he thinks about the events but claims that he misses the people he has written about.

Analysis

While we assume that Holden is on the path to recovery, there are still indications that he is not altogether healthy. He is not sure how he will react to going to a new school and seems unable to commit to the idea of applying himself.

The last line of the novel, 'Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody' (p192) has a number of possible implications. Firstly it might imply that despite his attacks on the characters, he regards them as his friends. Secondly, particularly in light of the fact that he includes Maurice as a person he misses, it might imply that by writing the events down he has made them real, rather than the fantasy world he saw them through as he interacted with them. If we take the second reading to be true, it gives us a hint as to why Holden wrote the story. It may have been a psychoanalyst trying to make Holden accept his past and his actions as real. The fact that he admits to missing the people may indicate that he is starting to have more standard emotional reactions to people than we have seen in the novel. Either way, it is a suitably ambiguous ending to a novel that is ambiguous in its meanings, symbols and reliability.