Holden Caulfield Red Hunting Hat Theme

Holden’s Red Hat Holden Caulfield’s red hunting hat from The Catcher In The Rye is an important symbol in the story. The red hat is a symbol for different things. It sometimes represents safety and protection, and it makes him feel different from the rest of the world. Holden wants to protect his childhood in the beginning of the book, and he used the hat to protect himself from the people who would think he should be an adult by wearing a childish hat. He turns the hat back when he wants to reveal himself to the world, and wears it forward when he wants to be secluded.

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.

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

The morning Holden lost the fencing equipment for the team he manages, he buys a red hunting hat for a dollar. Even though the hat seems as an insignificant purchase to Holden, the hat comes up at very significant points in the book. The hat symbolizes Holden’s resistance towards or protection from maturity.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield uses his hunting hat to represent who he wants to be. Holden doesn’t want to be the same as everyone else because he believes that they are phonies. He wears his hunting hat to show his difference from others. Holden is also a very self-conscious person, despite the fact that he pretends otherwise. However, when he wears his hunting hat, he becomes more comfortable. The only times when Holden feels truly content are when he has his hat on. When Holden wears his hunting hat, he temporarily becomes the person he strives to be.

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.

First, because Holden’s hat is so unique looking, he uses it as a way to set himself apart from all the fake people in the world. Holden looks down upon people who conform to society’s expectations, so he wears his silly looking hat to make himself feel special. Second, Holden’s hat represents his desire to emulate his late brother Allie. Holden idolizes Allie because “he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest” (43). Because Allie is dead, he would not be able to disappoint Holden or show himself to be a phony. Holden’s hat is childish which connects to Allie, because Allie dies of leukemia when he was young. The hat also physically represents Allie because Allie was a red-head and the hunting hat is read. Holden’s red hunting hat is used by Salinger to represent Holden’s desire to be different and his desire to connect with his. late brother,

At the end of the novel, Holden finally becomes happy with himself and it is the turning point of the story. One major symbol that repeats throughout the story is Holden’s red hunting hat. The hat is very protective and covers most of his head. Throughout the novel, Holden searched for companionship and someone to comfort him. Holden always wore the hat when he was alone and felt very solitary and lonely, symbolizing that it was some way he could connect to people he cared about. . At the end of chapter 25, Phoebe, “...reached in my coat pocket and took out my red hunting hat and put it on my head. ‘Do you want it’ I said” (Salinger 212). At this point, Holden had actually offered to give his hat to Phoebe. The offering away of his hat symbolizes how Holden finally felt accompanied and like he had found his companionship. When Holden meets with Phoebe the

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.

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’s red hunting hat is one of the main symbols in the book, The Catcher in the Rye. The hat represents individuality and uniqueness. It symbolizes the confidence, self esteem, and comfort in who someone is. Holden is only willing to express himself when he is alone, with no one around. He looks for approval. Holden does not want to be seen negatively in any way. The hat is a symbol that Holden uses to tell Phoebe that she should always stay the same. Also, to tell her that she should be confident in whom she is, but, as Holden knows, Confidence and self-esteem can be easily broken. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses Holden’s red hunting hat to symbolize Holden’s uniqueness and a sense security and comfort.

In Phoebe’s room, after Phoebe found out that Holden had been kicked out of another school, Phoebe accuses Holden of disliking everything. She says, “You don’t like anything that’s happening… You don’t like any schools. You don’t like a million things. You don’t” (page 169). Phoebe points out what Holden has been doing throughout the novel. He has been pushing everything away: his friends, his education, and his parents. He always finds a way to dislike someone or something and dismisses them or it. Holden wonders why he’s always lonely and depressed, but he has never reached this conclusion. Another part of Holden Phoebe unintentionally points out is his red hunting hat, Holden wears the hat for confidence, as we can see in the novel when he put it on after the fight with Stradlater and after he lost the fencing team’s equipment in New York. Holden states: “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” (page 122). Holden puts the hat on in moments when he feels vulnerable, but he doesn’t want people he’s familiar with to see him with the hat on. When Phoebe puts the red hunting hat on Holden, she’s telling Holden to embrace the confidence he gets from it. Throughout the novel, Holden is aware that he has had issues with people and himself, but Phoebe brings to light that he is the reason he dislikes everything

When it is over, both Holden and Stradlater are left in physical pain. “I kept sitting there on the floor till I heard old Stradlater close the door and go down the corridor to the can, then I got up. I couldn’t find my goddam hunting hat anywhere. Finally I found it… I put it on, and turned the old peak around to the back, the way I liked it” (45). The fight that Holden has with Stradlater is about Stradlater going out on a date with Holden’s friend Jane Gallagher. Holden gets upset with Stradlater for doing that because he thinks that Stradlater will cause Jane to lose her innocence. After Holden puts his hat on he stops thinking about Jane’s innocence and about his face, a more rational, less emotional subject. At another time Holden’s hunting hat allows him to show his emotions. Holden decides to leave Pencey early, as he is leaving he is very emotional. “I was sort of crying…I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, ‘Sleep tight, ya morons!’ (52). In this passage Holden is crying because he is leaving a school that he has been kicked out of, and going back to New York to be by himself for awhile. When he puts on his hunting hat it allows him to speak freely and emotionally, saying “sleep tight ya morons,” to his classmates.

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

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