The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
So my WTH!? moment in this section was Holden's visit with Mr. Antolini. He mentioned him before going over to his house and claimed he really admired him. However, once he started petting Holden's head, Holden flipped. That was amazing to the audience because it seemed innocent enough, and he completely over reacted. When I first glanced at this passage, I thought that his touchings must have been somewhere inappropriate. But seriously, it was on his head. Echoing my opinion, Mr. Antolini asked Holden "what's the matter with you?" (Salinger, page 192). As he later recounts the day's events, he changes his mind yet again and starts to see the innocence of the petting/patting. Seriously?!?! At least try to stick to your mind...
On a more serious note, Holden includes some passages where he behaves as an adult in generalizing children and their behaviors. However, more often than not, he is the child-like one in the situation. Holden tries to fit in with both children and adults to get the best of both worlds, but he tries to find a balance between both. But we see with an outside perspective that one can only have all the benefits and less favorable consequences of being a child or of an adult: there is no middle ground for Holden Caulfield.
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