Catcher In The Rye Red Hunting Hat Quotes

741 Words3 Pages

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. 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). Salinger is demonstrating in this phrase the fact that Holden admires his …show more content…

There are two reasons he is doing this, one being to make sure she feels unique and leads instead of follows and he feels that by giving her this it will prevent her from maturing. As he states towards the end of the book, he wishes he could be everyone's “Catcher in the Rye” and prevent them from falling off the cliff. The cliff being all the mistakes the children will make and Holden wants to stand on the edge and save all of them from falling off just as he did. Holden feels that the process of maturing is brutal and he wants his sister to cherish the moments she has while she is young. He is also showing admiration to his brother Allie, when he says “Catcher in the Rye” he is referring to Allies catcher's mitt that Holden kept when he