Holden Caulfield Red Hunting Hat Analysis
A Cheap Ol’ Red Hat
Holden Caulfield has a dominating dilemma throughout The Catcher in the Rye, his need for companionship and his longing for isolation. Adding to this confusion, he is caught between wanting to preserve the innocence of a child and wanting the independence of an adult. A cheap and simple red hunting hat, with no significance to anyone else but him, is the symbol for these conflicts. The hat is inseparable from J.D. Salinger’s portrait of Holden for a good reason: it is a symbol of his uniqueness and individuality. The hat is a bizarre visual that stands out because it is not part of the fashion at the time. It shows that Holden desires to be different from everyone around him. At the same time, he is very self-conscious …show more content…
Through the trials of these moods, Holden is wearing the red hunting hat. He put it on after his fight with Stradlater, when he left Pencey Prep, then after getting extremely drunk at the bar and wondering into Central Park, along with many other stressful situations. In each of these circumstances, Holden is desperate for companionship, wishing for someone to relieve his pain. He turns to different people asking for advice, whether to Allie or Phoebe, or to his few friends, he wants to connect with someone. Holden eventually finds answers within himself and he comes to terms with what he had difficulty in accepting: “The thing with kids is if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (211). Holden realizes how kids need to grow up and they need to learn how to do it for themselves. Youthful innocence, as much as Holden wants all children to hold on to this precious quality, is not permanent. He wants siblings, and other children, to avoid his painful experiences in becoming an adult and never have to witness what he had in his travels. The red hat is the symbol of all that Holden struggles with, companionship versus isolation, innocence versus knowledge, and what he has come to
Holden Caulfield has a dominating dilemma throughout The Catcher in the Rye, his need for companionship and his longing for isolation. Adding to this confusion, he is caught between wanting to preserve the innocence of a child and wanting the independence of an adult. A cheap and simple red hunting hat, with no significance to anyone else but him, is the symbol for these conflicts. The hat is inseparable from J.D. Salinger’s portrait of Holden for a good reason: it is a symbol of his uniqueness and individuality. The hat is a bizarre visual that stands out because it is not part of the fashion at the time. It shows that Holden desires to be different from everyone around him. At the same time, he is very self-conscious …show more content…
Through the trials of these moods, Holden is wearing the red hunting hat. He put it on after his fight with Stradlater, when he left Pencey Prep, then after getting extremely drunk at the bar and wondering into Central Park, along with many other stressful situations. In each of these circumstances, Holden is desperate for companionship, wishing for someone to relieve his pain. He turns to different people asking for advice, whether to Allie or Phoebe, or to his few friends, he wants to connect with someone. Holden eventually finds answers within himself and he comes to terms with what he had difficulty in accepting: “The thing with kids is if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (211). Holden realizes how kids need to grow up and they need to learn how to do it for themselves. Youthful innocence, as much as Holden wants all children to hold on to this precious quality, is not permanent. He wants siblings, and other children, to avoid his painful experiences in becoming an adult and never have to witness what he had in his travels. The red hat is the symbol of all that Holden struggles with, companionship versus isolation, innocence versus knowledge, and what he has come to