pocket and puts it back on her brother's head, we understand that Holden is still the catcher in the rye, the Savior who cares for children, but now he no longer wants to shield them from "real life." (One recalls Alesha's final speech: "Ah children, ah dear friends, don't be afraid of life!") It is at this point that Holden, entering upon maturity, becomes very like Kolia, allowing us to minimize most of the differences between them that we have noted up to this point. The chief difference that cannot be dismissed is that Mr. Antolini is a rather weak parallel to Alesha. But this seems not so important in light of the similar religious views of the boys. Each may be seen as a "secular Christian" - not believing in God, yet striving to love mankind - and looking to Jesus Christ for moral guidance while remaining agnostic as to His "divinity." A most gratifying thing for the thesis of this article is that Salinger's last chapter or two carry much the same 184 message as the concluding chapter of Brothers . There is the same culmination of a long movement from rebellion to acceptance, the same (implicit) perception that "all are responsible to all for all" - and there is even a possible echo of the structure of Dostoevsky's novel. Whereas Brothers has thirteen major sections, twelve books and an epilogue, Catcher has twenty-six chapters - just double the formal pattern in the earlier work. Most significant is