Chapter 24

Holden takes a cab to Mr. Antolini’s place. Once there, he notices that the place is strewn with dishes and glasses. Mr. and Mrs. Antolini have just had a party. Mr. Antolini is in a robe, still drinking highballs of liquor, while Mrs. Antolini is making coffee. She serves the coffee and retires for the night, and Holden tells Mr. Antolini about his expulsion from Pencey Prep. Mr. Antolini is a friend of the Caulfields and often visits them. Holden mentions the Oral Expression course at school, where he was annoyed by the rule that if the speaker digressed from the given topic, classmates were required to yell “Digression!” He tells his teacher that he actually enjoys the digressions, especially the digressions of his classmate, Richard Kinsella.

Mr. Antolini advises Holden to be mature. He asks Holden to learn from his disillusionments and writes down a quote by a psychoanalyst and hands it over to him. The quote suggests that it is better to live humbly for a cause than to die nobly for one. In response, Holden tries to tell Mr. Antolini that it is perfectly acceptable to find one’s purpose in life gradually. However, Mr. Antolini pays no heed to this and continues to sermonize. Exhausted, Holden ends up yawning, and soon they fix up a makeshift bed for Holden on the couch. Holden undresses and falls asleep. In the middle of the night, he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini stroking his head. While Mr. Antolini says he was just admiring him, Holden is troubled by the gesture. He lies to his teacher that he has to pick up his luggage from the Grand Central Station and leaves at once.