Caulfield has
changed his perspectives in few areas; he alters his attitude about , his sister , and his
writing of his autobiographical account.
--Mr. Antolini
Inwhen Holden visits his former teacher, Mr. Antolini is very solicitous and suggests
gently that he thinks Holden is "riding for some kind of terrible fall." But because
it is late and Holden feels extremely sleepy, Holden cannot listen well to the good advice that
Mr. Antolini gives him. So, his host makes up the couch as a bed for Holden.
After
sleeping for a while, Holden wakes up and discovers Mr. Antolini stroking his head. He is very
upset by this. Since he claims to have had "that kind of stuff" happen before, Holden
believes that Mr. Antolini is gay.
Later, in Chapter 25, Holden rethinks what
has occurred with Mr. Antolini:
...I wondered if just
maybe I was wrong about thinking he was making a flitty pass at me. I wondered if maybe he just
liked to pat guys on the head when they're asleep.... I mean I started thinking that even if he
was a flit, he certainly'd been very nice to me.
--Phoebe
Whereas Holden has desired to be a "catcher in the
rye" and save children from the phoniness of adulthood as a protector of their innocence in
Chapter 24, in Chapter 25, he changes his mind.
In Chapter 25 Holden sends
Phoebe a message to meet him at the museum, where he will return her Christmas money, which she
gave him. When she arrives, Phoebe has a suitcase with her and asks if she can go with him.
Holden denies her request, instructing her to return to school, but Phoebe adamantly refuses to
go, so he offers to take her to the zoo. There the siblings reconcile and Holden convinces
Phoebe to ride the carousel as she has in the past. As Holden sits watching her, he sees Phoebe
grab for the gold ring, and he becomes afraid that she will be hurt. But, Holden
recognizes,
The thing with kids is, if they want to grab
for the gold ring, you just have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they
fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them.
Thus, Holden realizes that he cannot stop children from maturing. He cannot be "a
catcher in the rye."
--His autobiographical account
After giving his account of why he has left school and his feelings about phonies and
other people and things, Holden reveals that he has been institutionalized for a while, but he
will soon attend a new school. However, he does not want to reveal much more, and he wishes now
that he had not told so much about himself already. He adds,
Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
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