When asked to pen a descriptive composition for a friend who has no time for classwork, Holden begrudgingly agrees, and immediately chooses to write about Allie’s baseball glove. The fact that his first choice of material to draw from was a possession of Allie’s shows how deep his love for his brother is. Holden reminisces about the mitt, saying, “The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so he’d have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat” (Salinger, 49). The fielder’s mitt itself is symbolic. Allie was left-handed and wrote in green ink, which signify him as being unique and distinctive. The fact that he wrote poems to keep him occupied show he is sensitive and bright. …show more content…
The majority of New York’s population, though, do not meet Holden’s cut. Allie’s memory has changed the way Holden judges and values others in his life. He is attracted to the curious and unusual, not the stereotypically monotonous patterns his peers seem to cycle through. Holden’s red hunting cap plays into this as well. It is attention grabbing and at times, out of place, but its gaiety and intense color attract Holden. Holden’s constant search for something sincere and unadulterated is a direct link to the affect Allie’s death had upon him. One journalist, analyzing an essay by Carl Strauch, had this to say about the hat: “Strauch points out that he wears the hat "backwards like a catcher" (10), an undoubtedly pointed correlation with the novel’s title as well as Holden’s view of himself as a savior” (Scott). The hat, therefore, is symbolic to Holden’s role as the catcher in the rye, or the protector of
3R Journal Response #1 The death of Allie was a major shifting point in Holden’s personality, and had a deep effect on many of the experiences he faced after he left Pencey. Holden was writing a composition for Stradlater, when he decided to write about Allie’s baseball mitt. He began reminiscing about memories he shared with Allie, and describing the great person he was.
Some may see this scene as the bonding of two siblings, or mark it for the kindness Holden is shown after being treated so rottenly for most of the novel, but there is much more to it than that. Readers can assume that Holden’s ridiculous hat gives him some sense of confidence, like when he wears it to write the essay about Allie’s baseball glove (38-39) but he also seems somewhat embarrassed by it since he wore it when “[he] knew [he] wouldn’t meet anybody who knew [him]” (122). When Phoebe, who Holden feels like he needs to protect, places this hat on him, it is a way of showing that even though Holden is trying to protect and watch out for her, Phoebe is also protecting him. It is as if by this small gesture she is saying, “If this hat gives you confidence and some measure of integrity to face the adult world, wear it.” In a very subtle and quiet way, it is Salinger’s way of showing that Phoebe empathises with Holden, which is significant mostly because no one else has empathized with him in the entire
Because the loss of innocence reveals society’s realities, recognizing innocence is to value ignorance. Holden is afraid that if he loses his innocence, he wouldn’t be any different from all the “phony” adults in the world. In the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Salinger shows the thematic idea of how the desire to protect innocence can result from one’s own loss of innocence. Holden uses his red hunting hat as a protective shield around him, the idea of having sexual intercourse with a prostitute, and the graffiti written on the walls of the elementary school. Starting off, Holden has a very strong bond with his red hunting hat because he finds the hat as a sense of comfort and innocence.
In this excerpt from the beginning of the novel called The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield speaks to his psychologist about his deceased younger brother. Salinger includes this quote from Holden in order to offer the reader some understanding of his actions and attitude throughout the book, and it also enforces the thought that Holden is a character struggling with teen grief, misunderstood by his parents and the peers around him. In this quote, he seems to be lost in thought of the detail of his younger brother's baseball mitt, even remembering the "green ink" (Salinger) that was used on it. Because of this, readers can infer that Holden has spent much time with this mitt and that such an object has a great amount of sentimental value to him because it was a possession of a person that he cared greatly about. However, despite his pain, Holden does not allow himself to process his grief properly; he instead puts up a sort of facade of passiveness towards the death of younger brother.
Holden tries to prevent the inevitable, but one must move on with their life, and that is, contributed to the loss of innocence. His hat keeps him safe from the societal horrors that steal one's innocence. So when he has finally comes to grips with the fact that he must become older, and make grown up decisions, he gives his hat to Phoebe when, she takes it out of his pocket and offers it to him, since it was raining, but he says “You can wear it awhile” (Salinger 233), he does this because he wants to protect her now and stop running away from his
I didn’t give a damn how I looked” (88). The helps Hold feel safe as his own self. It keeps him away from all the phonies the plague the world. At the end of the story Holden finally says, “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way” (213). Holden’s red hunting makes him different and remind him of people that aren't phonies like Allie and Phoebe.
Blaise Engle English 9 CP Period 6 Mrs. Gowanlock Tuesday, December 21 CITR Essay Throughout the majority of the Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger employs several different symbols that define Holden's personality. One particular object that set him apart from everyone else was his red hunting hat. It is brought up on several different occasions in the book and is often described as an article that reminds him of his brother Allie and sister Phoebe. Salinger furthermore develops the red hunting hat into a symbol by referring to it several times as Holden's own form of uniqueness, aiding in the theme of “ protection of the innocence” and the resistance of maturity.
Aside from being a liar, Holden is depressed. After Allie, his younger brother passed away, Holden hasn’t been too healthy himself. There is this baseball glove that was Allies, and it is a comfort to him. Along with that, another thing that Holden finds comfort in is a hat. This hate in particular is a red hunting hat.
Rhetorical Précis 1: In his essay, “ Love and Death in The Catcher in the Rye” (1991), Peter Shaw claimed that Holden behavior and way of thinking is due to common abnormal behavior in a certain time for teenagers (par. 10). Shaw supported his assertion of the young Holden by comparing the literary culture of the 1950s and how Holden’s fictional character fits within the contemporary Americans novels as a, “ sensitive, psychological cripples but superior character” (par. 3). Shaw’s purpose was to show that Holden’s sensitive and psychological behavior is not abnormal, but such like stated by Mrs. Trilling that,” madness is a normal, even a better then normal way of life” (par 4). Peter Shaw’s tone assumed a highly educated audience who is
Holden Caulfield's Red Hunting Hat is a symbol of his individual personality, of protection, and attachment to childhood whether he is wearing it or giving it to someone else. Holden puts on his Red Hunting Hat around different people because he cares about how his appearance looks to others. While walking in New York, Holden, "...put on this hat that I'd bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks" (17). Holden bought the hat right after he lost all the foils for fencing on the subway.
I noticed that Holden 's hat is red just like Allie 's and Phoebe 's hair. I think the red hat is maybe suppose to represent the innocence of those certain characters. Holden likes to wear his hat backwards . For example he says "The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, I 'll admit, but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way. "
Holden responded with “Like hell it is... This is a people shooting hat” (Page 22). Holden, by saying it is a ‘people shooting hat’, symbolizes how the hat protects him from others and separates him from others by ‘shooting them down’ and detaching himself from others. While staying in New York, Holden would wear that same red hunting cap in order to feel fearless. He states that “I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on - I didn’t even give a damn how it looked” (Page 88).
One of the symbols J.D. Salinger uses quite frequently in the book is Allie’s baseball mitt. In the beginning of the novel, it’s a normal baseball glove with poems on it, which we found out was owned by Holden’s brother who had died. But when you reach the end of the book, you realize that Allie’s mitt, along with the memory of him, shaped Holden to be the person he was in the novel. The baseball mitt represented the past.
At the start of the novel, Holden uses his hunting cap to protect himself from both the phonies and pain. Holden then uses his cap as a way to distance himself from other people since he struggles to make connections as he feels that no one else is able to relate or understand him. After he goes back home and reconnects with Phoebe, Holden no longer feels a need for the hat to protect him. In the short time of just three days, Holden goes from isolating himself from others to reconnecting with Phoebe, which brings him a bit of joy. Throughout the many preparatory boarding schools Holden flunked out of, he has had no one be able to understand his thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
The red hunting hat represents Holden’s allure/endearment to unique qualities in objects and people, that normally go unnoticed by others. The hat also symbolizes Holden’s individuality and unwillingness to conform to society’s