In Chapter 24 of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden has one of the most unsettling experiences described in the novel.
This is, of course his interaction with Mr. Anatoli. Throughout the
book, Holden has been looking for a mentor. He tries to talk to many
different characters, but he either is unable to express himself or the
person he is talking to refuses to listen to him. In the first half of Chapter 24, it seems like Holden has finally found
someone to mentor him in the form of Mr. Anatoli. However, things go
awry. There are many allusions to sexual abuse in this chapter, for
example Mr. Anatoli calls Holden 'handsome' and pets him while he
sleeps. However, Holden gives us an important clue at the end of the
chapter: "When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating
like a bastard. That kid of stuff's happened to me about twenty times
since I was a kid." Here, Holden indicates that he might have been sexually abused before this part of his life, and I personally think
that this is probably why he is so distrustful of adults and growing up
in general. This probably also accounts for Holden's slight madness, if that's what it is.
Why do you think that Holden was or wasn't sexually abused? How might this have affected him?
ReplyDeleteColby I like your examination of chapter 24, I agree with you that this was a very important chapter in the book and that an event of being sexually abused would lead to further implications down the road. Through the events of the book I don’t think Holden himself was abused, but I think that he may of witnessed someone having this happen to them for example like Jane. If he witnessed someone being sexually abused, especially Jane, this would cause an enormous distrust with adults and it would also bring up an awkward feeling when being in a situation like this with a girl. For example when he was talking about he would put off laying a move on a girl, if they said stop he’d stop, the reason behind this could be that he wouldn’t want them to feel what he has felt.