Protagonist Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is most commonly depicted as displaying a fear of intimacy, due to his inability to reconcile the death of his younger brother Allie. Furthermore, it may become apparent to the reader that Holden is mentally unstable and emotionally fragile after Allie's death and that he continually crosses back and forth the threshold between sanity and total insanity. You might wonder why Holden is obsessed with Allie. Furthermore, Holden is the only bereaved person in his family. His older brother DB recovered from the accident as he was able to leave the family and live in Hollywood; Phoebe, his younger sister, is over the fact that she even criticizes Holden for living in the past. Holden is the only member of his family who is reluctant to leave the dead behind and focus on his own life. To answer this question, the reader will be forced to observe Holden's meeting with Mr. Antolini, his former school teacher. Mr. Antolini's affectionate caress on Holden's forehead subsequently causes Holden's terror and his incontinent departure. Later, Holden regrets his suspicions that Mr. Antolini was making sexual advances on him, which leads him to deduce some conclusions. Holden points out, “Things like this have happened to me twenty times since I was a child.” (193). The only way to interpret that sentence is that Holden probably suffered harassment. Although this is the only evidence suggesting molestation in the novel, many of the events in Holden's encounters in New York describe his troubled connection to his world because he has no closure after the unspoken event. Therefore, Holden's mysterious past triggers his fear of sexuality, compromises...fear of intimacy, and now he can make amends with adults and people his age. Phoebe revealed that people can be sexual and nice to him at the same time. Many may think that Holden's intimacy issues may be exaggerated because Holden is not a reliable narrator. Furthermore, the admission of having had “twenty” sexual encounters may be an exaggeration or a simple lie. However, Holden can't see some people trying to help him in his life. For example, Mr. Spencer strives to bring about a positive change in him, but Holden simply calls him a fake. Furthermore, by focusing on his encounters with many people and how he reacts to them, he displays many characteristics of harassment victims according to Dr. Schetky and researcher Adam. As a result, Holden's unmentioned past has detrimental effects on his sexuality, clouds his connection to men, and facilitates his relationships with asexual beings...