Why Mr. Antolini?

In the Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield  does always make for a person who's easy to get through to, and we see a number of people try. The earliest example of this is at the very beginning of the novel with Holden's meeting with Mr. Spencer, his current History teacher,who wishes to talk with Holden about why it is Holden can't "apply" himself in school. Now perhaps this is actually a fair question--I actually believe a lot of the stuff that Mr. Spencer asks Holden about are good questions--but Holden certainly doesn't feel like hearing all this from Mr. Spencer is actually of any importance. Essentially from the time that Holden enters Mr. Spencer's house to the time that he leaves it he's regretting his decision. Holden really doesn't want to hear anything that Mr. Spencer has to tell him and responds only with the obligatory "yes" or "of course" when prompted, but doesn't really take in anything Spencer tells him. Mr. Spencer is, however, one of only a few adults throughout the entire novel with which Holden has any kind of really interaction. Aside from the stray taxi cab driver, the only other adult figure in Holden's life who tries to hold his attention is his old English teacher Mr. Antolini, who meets with somewhat different results.

As soon as Holden starts talking about Mr. Antolini we notice a few distinct differences--primarily he isn't immediately depressed by his decision to come. When he first enters Mr. Spencer's house he says "The minute I walked in , I was sort of sorry I'd come" (6), whereas when he's first coming to Mr. Antolini's house he describes it as "very swanky" (180) and says he'd been there on few other occasions--in short we get the feeling that he's actually looking forward to meeting and talking with Mr. Antolini, something we see in short supply when he meets with Mr. Spencer. Now the question is what is about Mr. Antolini that makes Holden look forward to coming to see him? 

Well for one it's clear that Holden can relate to Mr. Antolini more easily than he can to Mr. Spencer. Mr. Antolini acts very full of life and he speaks in a very witty manner--basically the opposite of Mr. Spencer who lectures on at Holden in his wise grandpa-like state. Mr. Antolini gives off an almost cool manner when he answers the door in his bathrobe and slippers with highball in hand--a state Holden finds obviously less depressing than when he meets Mr. Spencer who is also in his bathrobe. Not only has Mr. Antolini just finished a party, but he even offers Holden a cigarette, something I doubt Mr. Spencer would have ever done. He doesn't immediately start trying to tell Holden what he should be doing--I'd even go so far as to say that he treats Holden much more as an equal then Spencer does. Mr. Antolini doesn't give off an air of being the elder person trying it impart their wisdom on a younger person. To me at least, Mr. Antolini gives off much more of a vibe of being Holden's friend. He speaks to Holden frankly, but kindly, giving him good advice, without coming off as thinking himself explicitly more experienced than Holden. I think this is really where we see J.D. Salinger giving advice to his adult audience about how to connect with teenagers--if you want to someone like Holden Caulfield to really respect you and pay attention to you, you need to give off not an air of having something they need to hear, but of being caring friend who treats him as an equal.