Red Hunting Hat Essay

1) Page 16: Holden explains that his hat represents his individuality. Even though his hat looks “very corny” turned around, he likes that it looks different from the way anyone else would wear

Reaching the very end of the novel there are several events that lead up to the conclusion that Holden evolves as a dynamic character. The last few contributions include Holden sitting in the rain while Phoebe goes on the carousel, and finally when readers learn Holden must have entered some sort of a mental institution. While waiting for Phoebe he sits on a bench as it starts raining and thinks to himself, “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, though.”(Salinger 213). One of the symbolic objects Holden keeps throughout the novel is the hat because it is comforting and gives him the feeling of protection. In this particular part of the novel it is clear that the hat can no longer protect him from entering the adult world. An English novelist Malcolm Bradbury expresses his opinion when writing, “Some seem to suggest a role for Holden in relation to childhood—he can be a catcher in the rye, the adult who is the protector of childish innocence. Over these episodes, Holden obviously develops and his attitudes change. He is hunting for his own

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

Furthermore, both Salinger and Shelley display an effective use of motifs which also assist in demonstrating the theme of innocence and corruption. The most recognized motif used by Salinger is without a doubt Holden’s red hunting hat. Salinger suggests that the hat is a symbol of Holden’s uniqueness and individuality. The hat is a bit strange, which shows Holden’s desire to be different from everyone else, thus isolating himself from others. It is worth noticing that the colour of the hat, red, is the same as that of Allie and Phoebe’s hair. Perhaps Holden associates his hat with the

But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game” (8). Holden does not understand Spencer’s metaphor. Holden believes that life can only be a game if people are given advantages. From his point of view, he is one of the unlucky ones, but in reality he is on the side with the hot-shots, because he is given many advantages that others are not. Salinger emphasizes Holden’s immaturity in a very subtle way by having Holden’s authority figures always calling him “boy”. Both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini call Holden “boy”. Of Spencer, Holden says, “I wished to hell he’d stop calling me ‘boy’ all the time” (12) and then later on, Antolini tells Holden, “You’re a very, very strange boy” (193). Both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini recognize and acknowledge Holden’s immature behaviour in calling him “boy”. This only stresses the fact that Holden cannot seem to realize he is acting more like a child than a teenager. Holden’s red hunting hat is a very important symbol in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden uses this hat as a way to hide from society. He says, “That hat I bought had earlaps in it, and I put them on–I didn’t give a damn how I looked. Nobody was around anyway” (53). Holden thinks that wearing his red hunting hat makes him an individual, but in reality, he will only wear it when no one is around to judge him. It is his immaturity that makes him believe that he is being unique,

He is happy he is wearing it be is afraid of what others will think of him. This uncertainty makes him self-conscious. Salinger writes, “... I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on-I didn’t give a damn how I looked. I even put the earlaps down” (88). This quote is showing how Holden second-guesses himself not only once, but twice. He wants to be accepted for who he is but is scared of what people will think. He is afraid of the negative. Salinger writes, “I took my old hunting hat out of my pocket while I walked and put it on. I knew I wouldn’t meet anybody that knew me…” (122). He is confident that no one will be seeing so he is okay with being himself. He is afraid that someone might see him, but is confident that no one will, so he feels secure. He feels that he can only express himself when he is alone.

Ackley asks about his hat and describes it as a ‘deer shooting’ hat. Holden agrees, but not in a literal sense. He doesn’t actually shoot people while wearing the hat, but he does denigrate people mentally. Holden seems to have a derision for the norms, thus believing the world’s an ugly place. Accordingly, he chooses to be independent. This individuality leads him to a sort of alienation, eventually leading to bitterness, thus the “I shoot people in this hat” quote. Holden’s hat is a symbol of his independence and

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

Without the hat, he does not know what would become of him. The hat protects Holden from what he thinks is a horrible adult world. An example of this is when Holden got defensive after Ackley insulted his headwear saying “that’s a deer shooting hat”. Holden, while calm, said “I shoot people in this hat”(The Catcher in the Rye). While this was lighthearted in context, it could represent a deeper meaning that Holden treats people the same way he would a deer, with no remorse (Kestler, Justin). The way Holden gets defensive to Ackley’s insults and even brings it into a darker area shows that Holden thinks of this hat as a defense mechanism. He believes he is untouchable whenever he wears it; it almost becomes his alter ego (“Themes and Construction: The Catcher in the Rye.”). The way Holden acts towards this hat is comparable to the way a child would. Holden perceives the hat as the equivalent of a security blanket (“Themes and Construction: The Catcher in the Rye”). Holden never lets the hat leave his side because he would be lost without it. He always carries it with him no matter where he

Throughout the novel, Holden seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him. As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong. The red hunting hat is a symbol of Holden’s individuality. As the novel progresses, we begin to perceive that Holden’s alienation is his way of protecting himself. Just as he wears his hunting hat to advertise his uniqueness, he uses his isolation as proof that he is better than everyone else around him and therefore above interacting with them, even though his perspective isn’t necessarily true. Throughout the text he puts on the hat to get a sense of security. He does this because, he lives in a world of “phonies”, and sometimes it is hard to retain all of your traits and characteristics.

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.

He is feeling vulnerable at that time and he feels the same in every other situation where he puts the hat on. When Holden decides he’s leaving Pencey, he yells down the corridor, “I was sort of crying. I don’t know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddamn voice, ‘Sleep tight, ya morons!’” (52). Holden even states here that he was “sort of crying”, an act of vulnerability, and to counter that he puts on his hat and yells out profanity. His hat is analogous to a child and their favorite blanket, reflecting a dependence on a material thing to find comfort. In this way Holden uses his possessions, such as the hat, to find the child in himself, thus retaining his innocence. In contrast, Holden takes off the hat when entering a bar or riding the train. He realizes that the hat is a childish possession and will be ridiculed by society, "I'd already taken off my hunting hat, so as not to look suspicious" (157). Although he is embarrassed by it, Holden takes immense pride in his hat; it represents his individuality, how he's different from

Throughout the novel Holden repeatedly puts his hat on in times when he needs comfort and to feel safe. Specifically he wore this hat when he was writing an english composition for his roomate Stradlater, this also happened to be the first time he discussed the death of his brother: “He’s dead now. He got leukemia and died when we were up in Maine, on July 18,1946. You’d have liked him” (Salinger, 37). This is significant as Holden is expressing his emotions of his brothers death while writing this composition and is wearing the hat as protection while he is feeling upset and vulnerable.

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.

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