As a teenager facing adulthood, everyone longs for their childhood back. With all the stress of high school, getting into the right college, and just starting to understand romantic relationships, sometimes teenagers just want life to go back to what it was like in elementary school. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden experiences these feelings throughout the novel. Holden refuses to accept the fact that he is growing up forcing him to be kicked out of multiple schools and running away to live in New York City. Holden refuses to accept becoming an adult which causes him to become depressed. In the novel Salinger 's use of the color red portrays Holden’s longing for childhood innocence and his refusal to accept adulthood. First of all, we must consider Holden’s red hunting hat. One day when Holden was walking through New York, depressed and feeling lost, he came upon a store window. Inside the store window he saw this bright red hunting hat that he immediately felt a connection to. Holden thinks about the new happiness the hat brings him, “One day when Holden was walking through New York, depressed and feeling lost, he came upon a store window. Inside the store window he saw this bright red hunting hat that he immediately felt a connection to” (10). Holden cares for this hat. Holden is having a rough time before he saw the hat, he had just gotten off the subway in New York and realized that he had lost his foils, or fencing swords. This is the
He uses this hat as a symbol to feel connected to Allie and as a way to protect himself from the adult world. When Holden said “ she took
Throughout the book, Holden Caulfield occasionally feel lonely and depressed. He hates how people are trying to pretend someone they are not. Holden Caulfield wears his hunting hat while he was in one of the biggest city in the world, which is unique. Caulfield’s red hunting hat made Holden
Holden’s red hunting hat is a symbol of Holden’s uniqueness and difference from the others in the book. It is also the same color as his sister Phoebe’s hair and his friend Allie’s hair which could help connect the important people in his life. Holden never wears the hat when he is around people he knows giving the reader insight that when he wears the hat he feels the need for his isolation. 8. Imagery-
At this moment, Holden finds himself in a very vulnerable position because he is walking alone at night in New York City and in the blistering cold. This can be interpreted as the cruelty and reality of the real world, in other words: cold. When Holden has his red hunting hat on, he believes that he will remain innocent, even in environments that expose him to the cold and harsh nature of the real world. This is Holden’s first relationship to the color red, but as the novel progresses, Holden finds that this mode of protection may not always
J.D. masterfully explains how Holden is in a low point of his life right at the moment, he also does not care for what others think about him. Not to point out but Holden only wears his hat in pirate because he is embarrassed to wear it out in public. Holden wants to be different from everyone because he gains a little bit of comfort and satisfaction from the red hunting hat. Not only that, but in the novel Holden asks the taxi driver an absurd question "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South?
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
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.
Salinger does a phenomenal job developing the red hunting hat into a symbol by emphasizing how important it was to Holden throughout the novel. When Holden is leaving the hotel, whilst walking out the door he grabs his coat from the hat check girl. He then proceeds to show her his hat. “I showed her my goddamn hunting hat and she liked it”(169).
In Holden’s mind becoming “the catcher in the rye “means that he can still catch Allie from falling off the cliff. This is relevant to Holden’s depression because everything around him is telling him to grow up but instead he runs away from it in fear that is will pull him farther apart from his relationship with his brother Allie. Holden is on the edge of becoming an adult which creates more pressure and leads him to
Since one of Holden’s few sources of comfort comes from an object, we can tell how alone he truly feels. Additionally, the symbol of the hunting hat Holden wears represents anger and isolation. At one point, Holden fights with Stradlater. After the fight, Holden remains beaten up, depressed, and all alone. He puts on his hunting hat, almost for comfort or companionship.
When the hat is pulled to the front, he cannot “see a goddam thing” and says he’s “going blind” (21). The pain from Allie’s death pushes Holden to seclude himself from a world he sees as cold and ominous. More importantly, it prevents him from looking at his own mind and realizing Allie is the reason he is lonely. As if losing own brother wasn’t enough, Holden also loses the presence of his older brother D.B.. The conflict begins when he leaves Holden by moving to Hollywood, and Holden says D.B. will only “maybe” drive him home after his therapy ends (1).
When he wears his hat to the back it likes builds his self confidence up. I believe Holden 's hat symbolizes his uniqueness and his originality . Holden hunting hat is weird it shows that Holden wants to be different from everybody around him. But I think Holden is quite self- conscious about his red hunting hat because he always says when he is wearing and he also doesn’t wear it when he is going to be around people he knows.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden demonstrates the struggle of transitioning between childhood and adulthood by revealing his hassle to grow up. Maturity comes through being an adult and growing up is all about becoming more mature. Throughout the book, Holden goes through numerous conflicts and problems. In the beginning of the book, Holden is gives information about himself.
If the book is read solely on its surface level, it just seems like a book about an annoying teenager who just complains about everything, but the messages it carries are actually profound. For example, near the end of the story Holden is upset by some profane graffiti on the wall at a museum that says “F*** you” (Salinger 224). He is upset by it because he is worried some little kids will see it and wonder what it means, and then be curious enough to find out adn have their innocence stolen. He finds the graffiti multiple times in the museum. The profane graffiti, if looked at beyond the surface level, symbolises the fact that Holden can not do anything to stop little kids from losing their innocence.
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