J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is the story of seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield’s struggle to connect with people after losing his brother several years before. Salinger uses the red hunting cap to represent how Holden protects himself in The Catcher in the Rye.
At the beginning of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden uses his red hunting cap as a form of protection from those who cannot understand him and what he has been through. Right after his fight with Stradlater over the composition, Holden says, "I couldn't find my goddam hunting hat anywhere. Finally I found it. It was under the bed. I put it on, and turned the old peak around to the back, the way I like it, and then I went over and took a look at my stupid face in the mirror" (45). Though Holden is in New York City and constantly surrounded by the crowds of the bustling city, he still feels alone and in need of security. Holden feels alone and, in some sense, he is alone because no one he
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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. Holden finally feels as though he no longer needs protection when he comes back home and reconnects with Phoebe, who despite being quite young when Allie died, is able to understand and respect what Holden says and how he