Journal #13 Chapters 23-24

Journal 13

Chapters 23-24

By: Kellen Long

            In chapter twenty-three Holden calls an old teacher of his, Mr. Antolini. He thought it would be nice to visit with him considering he had not spoken to him in years, plus he needed somewhere to stay for the night. Mr. Antolini was very nice on the phone and he said that Holden could come right over if he needed a place to stay. Holden described Mr. Antolini as “one of the best teachers he had ever had. He was a pretty young guy, who was not too much older than his brother D.B., and you could kid around with him without losing respect for him.”(Ch.23, pg.226)

            After talking to Mr. Antolini on the phone Holden slips back into D.B.’s room, where Phoebe turned on the radio and began dancing, when all of the sudden, their parents walk through the front door. Holden quickly jumped up and ran over and turned off the light, and then he jammed out his cigarette on his shoe as he was fanning out the air. As their mother walked in Phoebe’s room she yelled out, “Phoebe have you been smoking a cigarette in here?”(Ch.23, pg.230) Phoebe replied back with “I just lit one for one second. I just took one puff.”(Ch.23, pg.230) Her mother was angered by Phoebe’s actions, but she grabbed a blanket and tucked her in bed.

            After their mother went to bed Holden decided to head to Mr. Antolini’s for the night. As he was fumbling through the house he mentions, “It was a helluva lot easier getting out of the house than it was getting in, for some reason. For one thing, I didn’t give much of a damn any more if they caught me.” (Ch.23, pg.233)

            As Holden arrives at the Antolini house, Mr. Antolini greets him at the door wearing a bathrobe and slippers and says “Holden, m’boy. Sit down.”(Ch.24, pg.236) They soon get on the topic of school, which seemed to be a recurring topic with everyone he met. Holden then mentions “Oh, I passed English all right. It was mostly literature, though. I only wrote about two compositions the whole term. I flunked oral expression, though.”(Ch. 24, pg.237) Mr. Antolini then goes into a long speech about how important education is and he said “I’m not trying to tell you that only educated and scholarly men are able to contribute something valuable to the world it’s not so. But I do say that educated and scholarly men, if they’re brilliant and creative to begin with, go a lot further than men who are not educated.” (Ch.24, pg.246) As their conversation began to wind down Holden went to bed, when all the sudden he felt Mr. Antolini’s hand on his head. He was so freaked out that he threw on his clothes, forgetting his tie and made up any excuse he could to get away. Finally he gets out the door and runs as far as he can go.