The Catcher in the Rye

Describe and compare the two schoolteachers who appear in the novel, Mr Spencer and Mr Antolini. How do their relationships with Holden differ?

One of the main themes in The Catcher in the Rye is Holden’s view on adults. He finds most of them to be phonies, but there are a few that he is willing to reconsider. Two of the main persons are Mr Spencer and Mr Antolini. Their relationships with Holden differ a lot. The age difference between Mr Antolini and Mr Spencer could contribute to their separate ways of dealing with him.

Mr Spencer is the history teacher at Holden’s present school (that he have just got expelled from), Pencey Prep. His relationship with Holden is “student-teacher” kind of like. It is not really friendship, like friendship between classmates, but it is not strictly student-teacher either since Mr Spencer is the only teacher that seems to care for Holden and trying to understand him. Holden, on the other hand, tries to maintain the distance and shows when he meets in Mr Spencer in the beginning of the book.

“[…] he was really stooped over, and he had a very terrible posture, and in class, whenever he dropped a piece of chalk at the blackboard, some guy in the first row always had to get up and pick it up and hand it to him. That’s just awful, in my opinion.”

“[…] everything smelled like Vicks Nose Drops. It was pretty depressing. I’m not to crazy about sick people, anyway. […] old Spencer had on this very sad, ratty old bathrobe that he was probably born in or something. I don’t much like seeing old guys in their pyjamas and bathrobes anyway.”

Holden holds a grudge against Mr Spencer which is shown early in the book when he is taking the distance from old, sick people (in this case Mr Spencer). Since you do not get a very good overview their relationship prior to Holden’s appearance at Mr Spencer’s house, this could also mean that he is trying to keep an emotional distance. We have our own theory about this; we actually think that Holden likes Mr Spencer a bit and acts like so the goodbyes won’t be as hard.

Mr Antolini is practically the total opposite of Mr Spencer. He worked as Holden’s old English teacher back when he was at Elkton Hills. Mr Antolini and Holden’s relationship is much more friendship like than Holden’s and Mr Spencer’s. Holden is relying on him and even call him when he is in trouble.

“He was about the best teacher I ever had, Mr Antolini. He was a pretty young guy, not much older than my brother D.B., and you could kid around with him without loosing your respect for him.”

Holden and Mr Antolini’s relationship take a drastic turn when Holden gets to sleep in Mr Antolini’s house and wakes up when Mr Antolini is petting his head in the middle of the night. Holden finds it offensive and decides to leave the house as fast as possible.

“[…] I felt something on my head, some guy’s hand. Boy, it really scared the hell out of me. What is was, it was Mr Antolini’s hand. […] ‘What’re ya doing, anyway?’ I said over again. […] ‘How ‘bout keeping your voice down? I’m simply sitting here - ’
‘I have to go, anyway,’ I said – boy, I was nervous! I started putting on my damn pants in the dark. I could hardly get them on I was so damn nervous. I know more damn perverts, at school and all, than anybody you ever met.”

After this scenario, Holden tries to keep (if possible) an even greater distance towards adults and after this many more adults mentioned in the book. The only ones he talks to from here on are children, such as Phoebe and some children at the museum. Mr Spencer and Mr Antolini are never mentioned again and feels like Mr Antolini sank to Mr Spencer’s “level”. Their experiences have probably taught them different things of dealing with children. Mr Spencer, who is a lot older than Mr Antolini, has probably come in contact with more children and would probably therefore be more experienced in dealing with children in Holden’s situation whereas Mr Antolini is not as experienced in that area. We think that it is a bit unfair that Mr Antolini teat Holden the way he does when Holden shows that kind of trust. An adult should show respect and understanding for a teenager in need.