The Importance Of Holden Caulfield's Red Hunting Hat

Holden Caulfield, in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, struggles against entering the adult world of responsibilities and leaving the innocent world of childhood by living as a teenager in between these two worlds. In the novel, Holden tells the reader about several events in his life: How he flunks school, wanders around New York City for a few days, and has a mental breakdown after returning home. Holden attempts to cope with the anxiety that compounds with confusion by communicating his feelings through the Red Hunting Hat he buys. Holden's treasured Red Hunting Hat illustrates the importance of individual personality in a teenager and at the same time symbolizes the attachment to adolescence and protection from adulthood whether he or someone else is wearing it. While Holden drifts from place to place, he dons his Red Hunting Hat around different kinds of people, depicting his self-consciousness about his personal image. Holden describes the hat as one "...that [he] bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks" (17). Following the pratfall that results in leaving the fencing foil on the subway, Holden purchases the hat to yield some comfort for himself. Despite his bizarre manner of wearing the peak of the hat all the way

Holden goes through a variety of trials in the novel leading up to his understanding of growing up and letting go of the past while between two worlds of childhood and adulthood. The Red Hunting Hat, despite its average appearance, is an object with major significance in Holden's mind - it acts as a barrier against the customs of adulthood, causes him to individualize his character from the "phony" world, and connects Holden to, in his belief, the purity of childhood