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The Catcher in the Rye

by J. D. Salinger

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In The Catcher in the Rye, what does Mr. Antolini's quote from psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel mean?

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In The Catcher in the Rye, Mr. Antolini's quotation from Wilhelm Steckel means that Holden should not contemplate suicide, but should rather attempt to live for a cause, as living for something rather than dying for something is what can make a difference. Any encouragement or wisdom Holden may have gained from this is quickly overshadowed, however, by the fact that Holden wakes up to Mr. Antolini petting his head.

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Mr. Antolini quotes Wilhelm Stekel as follows:

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."

Antolini evidently considers himself a mature man and believes that his present way of life is a make of mature wisdom. He is trying to impart a conclusion he has come to about life, but it is not appropriate for a young man like Holden Caulfield who never seems to be thinking of dying nobly for a cause but might indeed like to have a cause that seemed important enough to want to die for. (One might be reminded here of the thought-provoking movie Rebel Without a Cause , starring the young James Dean. A good epiithet for the character of Holden Caulfield might be "a rebel without a cause.") What...

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Stekel says may be true enough, but the quote is important mainly because it characterizes Mr. Antolini, and a lot of other people like him.

Antolini has given up. He just wants to "live humbly." He is not really living humbly for any cause but himself. He is teaching a bonehead English class part-time at N.Y.U. in order to be able to call himself a teacher and not have it too terribly conspicuous to his and his wife's wide circle of friends that he is really a gigolo and a parasite. His idea of living humbly for a cause is staying drunk and living on his wife's money.

Holden is too young to understand this--but he does understand what is going on when he wakes up with his former teacher's hand on his head! This is a traumatic experience for the young man--not so much because he was in any danger--but because it made him realize that Antolini's interest in him may have had nothing to do with his brains or his potential, but because he begins to suspect that the older man's personal interest was mostly carnal. The interest that Antolini appeared to be taking in Holden's mind and his writing talent may have been a subtle form of attempted seduction. Therefore, any encouragement or validation Holden may have gotten from his relationship with a well-educated older teacher was negated by that older man's self-revelation and covert advance.

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