Catcher In The Rye Holden's Hat

While Holden was in New York for a fencing competition, he purchased a red hunting hat and this hat has come up numerous times during important parts of the story. For example, when Holden was writing about Allie’s baseball mitt and after he left Pencey. Holden wears his hat as a way to show who he really is, even though he is not comfortable wearing it in public , “I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it,”(Salinger 68). Although Holden feels embarrassed when he wears his hat out in public it is a way for him to feel more confident in his own skin rather than being depressed all the time. The red hunting hat is a symbol shown again and again about who Holden really is as a person. It shows that he likes and enjoys doing unusual things, but at the same time is cautious about where he wears his favorite

Holden’s red hat represents his individuality and his interactions with it and Phoebe show how he no longer wants it. Salinger writes, “Then I took my hunting hat out of my coat pocket and gave it to her” (180). This quote not only shows how Holden no longer wants to be different but how he really want to give his sister the chance to be unique and express herself. He has given up on trying to be himself, even by when he is alone. Salinger writes, “The reason I saw her, she had my crazy hunting hat on-you could see that hat about ten miles away” (205). Holden is saying that being unique makes him stand out, but unlike how

The hat makes Holden feel protected as if he does not need anyone. It is like the way a pacifier or a teddy bear works to comfort a child. Holden says, “After he left, I put on my pajamas and bathrobe and my old hunting hat, and started writing the composition” (49). Holden writes this intricate composition about his brother’s baseball mitt. He waits until his roommate leaves in order to wear the hat and it makes him feel protected. It is odd that he wears his hat inside, but it just reinforces the fact that the hat symbolizes the will to describe his emotions. He manages to write a heartfelt paper in which his brother’s memory becomes a vivid reality for him. Holden remains attached to the image of his brother. He cares about his siblings immensely and he finds a way to always carry them along with him. His red hunting hat is a representation of his brother Allie that died of leukemia in his innocence. Both of his siblings have red hair and the color of his hunting hat is red. Holden reflects that, “People with red hair are supposed to get mad very easily, but Allie never did and he had very red hair” (50). He buys this hat to remember the memories of innocence and love he shared with his brother. The hat is also a reminder that the only sibling he has left is Phoebe and she is dear to his heart because of her innocence and

Throughout the novel Catcher and the Rye, the author J.D Salinger presents Holden Caulfield as someone who is battling with growing up and who is putting up barriers. Holden’s brother died when he was eleven years old, meaning he lost his innocence at a young age. Holden keeps this in the inside and lets out his anger by calling everybody “phonies”.He does find comfort in a red hunting hat and his dead brother Allie. Holden's comfort in materialistic hat shows how he doesn’t appreciate the people close to him.

Holden’s first action after the fight is to find his hunting hat. Holden expresses his need for the hat when he says, “I couldn’t find my goddam hunting hat anywhere” (Salinger 59). This one sentence shows how the hunting hat brings relief to Holden and how he feels lost without it. The hat is a comforting object for Holden having that on the way he likes it just like a catcher.

The red hunting hat mirrors Holden’s resistance to conformity displaying his inner conflict of loneliness or companionship. Holden’s hat protects him and he feels that it gives him uniqueness as he does not agree with many of society’s standards. Salinger strategically places the hunting hat into situations where Holden feels awkward and uncomfortable. During these situations, Holden “puts [his] red hunting hat on, and [turns] the peak around the back the way [he] likes it” (59). The hat gives Holden the comfort and stability he desires in his life, as well as confident as he thinks that he “[looks] good in it” (21). However, the hat also isolates Holden in a protective bubble, restricting him from taking risks that he is not comfortable with. Holden is trying to get out into the world, yet it seems like the hat is holding him back

To begin with, Holden’s red hunting hat is a symbol for his protection against the world. The first time that he uses his hat to make him feel secure is when his roommate, Stradlater, punches Holden in the face. His initial thought after he is punched, is to find his hat. He most likely thinks of this because his hat provides a sense of comfort for him, similar to a young child and their blanket. “I couldn’t find my my goddam hunting hat anywhere, Finally I found it. It was under the bed. I put it on, and turned the old peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I went over and took a look at my stupid face in the mirror (Salinger 45). This evidence demonstrates Holden’s need to feel protected from the world and all his problems, Not only does Holden used his hat to protect himself, he also uses it to try to protect Phoebe, his younger sister. In his attempt to try to shield Phoebe

To begin, when reading the novel one seems to come upon Holden‘s red hunting hat many times while reading. This hunting hat demonstrates Holden’s need for safety and comfort. He was deprived of it when he

There is also a sense of self-consciousness that surrounds the hat as well. Holden never fails to mention when he is going to wear the hat and even removes the hat when he is going to be around people he knows, because "it was corny" but he "liked it that way." His self-consciousness of his hat therefore introduces a new component to the theme: Holden's want for isolation versus his desire for companionship.

It is obvious that Holden uses the hat as a mark of individuality and independence. Holden’s new hunting hat is very important to him. Part of him seems to want to display his rebelliousness, but another part of him wants to fit in (or at least hide his mental instability. Although he mentions the freezing temperature, Holden does not wear the hat near the football game or at Spencer’s house; he waits for the privacy of his own room to put it on. His desire for independence is connected to his feeling of alienation, to the bitterness he has for the rest of the world.

A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, protagonist, Holden Caulfield, wears a red hunting hat that he purchases for one dollar while in New York City. The hat is put on numerous times throughout the novel, when Holden needs to hide or needs a boost in confidence. The red hunting hat Holden wears symbolizes Holden’s identity and his attempt to preserve his and his sister Phoebe’s innocence.

Holden seems to enjoy being around Phoebe and finds everything she does fascinating. Holden blames his isolation and hate for phony people on the society but Phoebe tries to make him see that he is the problem. Holden then says that he wants to be the catcher in the rye, a man who catches kids as they fall off the cliffs from the rye field. I find this contradicting because he can’t save himself from his responsibilities in the adult world but wants to save others. Holden gives Phoebe his red hunting hat. I think the hat might symbolize safety and protectiveness. The hat could also symbolize the catcher from the catcher In the rye, and who possessed it might be the catcher. Once Holden gives the hat to Phoebe he kept feeling like he was going

Holden's hunting hat also shows symbolism of different moods and feelings he may be experiencing. First, the fact that it was a "hunting hat" symbolizes that he is searching for himself. And second, there is a pattern as to the way he wears he hat. When he is in a lost and depressed mood he would "turn peak around to the back" (Salinger 45), when he was in a good mood he would "pull the peak…around to the front" (Salinger 34). There is no specific sequence in these changes, his hat turns with his mood. It is as if the hat is directing him and comforting him in his quest to find himself.

Holden doesn’t need the hat anymore a source of his protection and identity because he thinks that Phoebe needs the hat more than him. Holden wants phoebe to be protected from the dangers of growing up and losing innocence, so he tells her to keep it. Salinger writes, “Then I took my hunting hat out of my coat pocket and gave it to her. She likes those kinds of crazy hats.” (97) Holden knows that alienation is what represents what little stability there is in his life and that he never addresses his emotions head on, but he chooses to hide from them. Holden doesn’t need to protect himself anymore because he knows who he is and that the red hunting hat will not change him as a person. Holden also realizes that while he wants to have connections, alienation is what separates the two and causes problems. He starts to lose the fear of what other people think of him due to the growing fear that phoebe will get hurt one day. He gives the hat to phoebe as a means of protection for when she grows up and faces challenges in life instead of using the hat as a means of a source of protection for

One of the literary devices in this novel is symbolism. Holden’s red hunting hat is the symbolic feature that alienates him from society. Ackley tells Holden “Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake… That’s a deer shooting hat” (Salinger 30), meaning Holden’s hat is only worn while hunting. Holden does not seem to care much for Ackley’s opinion and he wears it anyways. This shows Holden’s individuality and his uncommon desire compared