An Analysis Of Holden's Red Hunting Hat

760 Words2 Pages

Mara Steeber
Ms. Johnson
Honors English
10 December 2014
Title yo
Holden’s red hunting hat is symbolic of his individuality, protection and innocence. Holden’s outlandish hat expresses his individuality and uniqueness. The statement piece shows his desire to stand out and be different from everyone else. In such situations as when he is taking off from Pencey he says “I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it and then I yelled ‘Sleep tight, ya morons!’” (Salinger 59). The style is already ridiculous but he still manages make a statement with his comment. (commentary). At the same time, Holden is often self-conscious of wearing the hat itself. Though he claims to wear it purely to his liking, as …show more content…

In the beginning of the novel, Holden exclaims “I put on this red hunting hat that I had bought that morning [...] right after i lost the foils” (number here). Here he is telling us that same morning he proceeded to lose the whole fencing team’s equipment he happened to pick up the hunting hat at a local sports store just off the subway. This is no coincidence, the hat has to assume the position of comfort for holden after his failure. The novel takes place around Christmas time in New York City, so the weather conditions are undoubtedly cold. Holden has no sort of paternal guidance and help throughout his journey. The hat is an important protection aspect in getting him by the couple of frigid night he endures. In the same quote from above he states “it was freezing cold, and 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. I wished I knew who'd swiped my gloves at Pencey, because my hands were freezing” (88). This is only one of the many cases Holden uses the hat out of desperation to stay warm and even alive. At the end of The Catcher in the Rye Phoebe "reached into [Holden’s] coat pocket and took out [his] red hunting cap and put it on [his] head" (212). Holden then stated that his "hunting hat really gave [him] quite a lot of protection, in a way, but [he] got soaked anyway" (213). Holden became extremely happy once Phoebe puts the hunting hat on

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