They say some people Holden encounters weren’t completely selfish because they tried to help him; however, these people ended up doing more harm to his situation, making him feel even more lost and alone. When Holden desperately needs lodging after a night of heavy drinking and looking for meaning, he calls up Mr. Antolini, who is more than happy to help; however, when Holden wakes up on the couch, he is deeply disturbed by what his former teacher was doing: “What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddam head...boy, was I 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 schools and all, than anybody you ever met, and they’re always being …show more content…
This repeatedly emphasizes the extreme discomfort these actions have brought him. He also repeats the phrase “in the dark” twice as well; when something is classified as being done in the dark, it usually implies a shady action with that no one should know about. Mr. Antolini caressing him in the dark shows that he thought he was safe and that Holden will never know; when in the light, he seems okay, but by performing inappropriate actions in the dark it is revealed that he had other intentions. Holden’s quick and negative response to Mr. Antolini’s action shows that in the end, though he was generous enough to help, he had ulterior motives. When Holden goes to visit Phoebe for the first time, she is okay to talk for a while in her bedroom and she even later offers some of her money to take with him; however, some of the things she says to Holden further hurt him: “‘You don’t like anything that’s happening.’ It made me even more depressed when she said that…’Because you don’t. You don’t like any schools. You don’t like a million things. You don’t.’ ‘I