Red Hunting Hat Research Paper

Holden Caulfield’s red hunting hat is mentioned throughout the novel, like a motif, but it does not just display

Firstly, the Red Hunting Hat means a lot to Holden Caufield. It’s his desire to be unique Holden bought his Red Hunting hat from New York when he was with his fencing team. Holden wears

The Red hunting hat was a staple in the life of Holden Caulfield. Throughout the story, in times of discomfort Holden reaches for his hat. Even though it was a safety blanket in a way, Holden was ashamed to wear it at times. The hat was a physical representation of Holden’s individuality. He is definitely his own person, but deep down he knows that even he is a phony in one way or another.

I'll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor. Then I got the hell out. "(29). This shows when he is isolated and feels alone he turns to his red hunting hat for protection. Holden even suggests that his hat gives him protection and comfort not just on a physical level, but emotionally as well.

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

In the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden shows his desire for his red hunting hat he bought in New York. Holden’s hat symbolizes his innocence. He enjoys wearing his hat alone, but in public he feels embarrassed to wear it. The hat also shows that Holden is lonely and that he is isolated from everyone else that is around him. But the hat also makes Holden more confident and it shows off his personality.

Holden states, “I figured that if I didn’t bump smack into my parents and I’d be able to say hello to old Phoebe and then beat it and nobody’d even know I’d been around. It really was a terrific break” (Salinger 174). I believe he did this because he wants Phoebe to have fond memories of him to help fill the void he’ll leave when he runs away. Because, the state of heartache he was in when he knew Allie would be gone forever made him the way he is today. Additionally, we get a glimpse inside Holden’s mind when he shares his dream profession with Phoebe.

In terms of the hunting hat, Holden put it on his head and claimed “I didn’t give a damn how I looked” yet when he entered the train car, he took the hat off. Possibly, because he somehow felt foolish with it on. If he truly didn't care how he looked with the hat on then he wouldn’t have felt the need to exclaim it. The hat seems to have some significance to Holden. I assumed it represented Allie because Allie’s hair was red and the hunting hat was also red. The themes of lying and deception are evinced when he lies to the lady on the train about his identity claiming his name was Rudolf Schmidt and that he had a brain tumor. Holden seems to struggle between adulthood and childhood. In this instance, he portrays himself as someone older when he asks the lady if she would “care for a cocktail” and when he invites her to go clubbing. His interaction with the lady shows that maybe he isn’t as socially awkward as he’s

Holden is very fond of Phoebe and also very protective of her, when Holden goes to her school his protective attribute is very relevant. When Holden gets into Phoebe’s school Holden is surprised with extreme profanity on the walls in the school, during his time in the school he sees the words “Fuck You” written on the walls thought the school. The first time Holden saw the words he instantly began to think of how Phoebe and the other kids would feel if they were to see it. It upset Holden so much that he thought, “I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it… I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddamn dead and bloody. (p.201)” His obsession with innocence was so strong that Holden felt compelled to kill the “perverty bum (p.201)” Though he could never act on his feelings he decided to make an effort to clean the graffiti off the walls, once again protecting and preserving innocence. A more personal and compelling occasion where Holden was the protector of Phoebe’s innocence is when they went to the carrousel near the zoo. While approaching the carrousel Holden thought of his past when D.B, Allie, Phoebe and himself use to go to the carrousel all the time and how Phoebe couldn’t get enough of it. After remembering how happy it made her Holden told her she should go on, Phoebe declined claiming she was too big to ride even though she really wanted to but after insisting, she got on. Holden then watched her go around in circles while he sat on one of the benches. “[Holden thought to himself] I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn

Holden is really saying that when he wears the hat, he zones out on the world and focuses on himself, and his own problems, as if he had shot them, because they are dead to him at the moment. The red hunting hat symbolizes the search for the truth because Holden wants to be the “catcher”, hence the title of the book, and he wants to help

The Red Hunting Hat - Holden’s red hat is a predominant symbol that reoccurs throughout the novel. The hat is very distinct and symbolizes his individuality

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.

Salinger uses the red hunting hat as a very prominent and recurring symbol. Because of the hat’s distinct look, it serves as a way of showing that Holden is an independent and unusual person. He also wears it in a strange way “with the peak around to the back” (Salinger 27). The hat acts as protection for Holden. He wears it when it is raining while Phoebe is on the carousel, and he says, “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway” (213). The hat gives him a sense of protection from many things, from adulthood to phonies. The hat is also red, much like Allie and Phoebe’s hair. Salinger didn’t include this similarity on accident. This shows that the hat represents the genuinity and

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

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