Examples Of Heroism In Catcher In The Rye

The first thing that comes to mind when hearing the word 'hero ', is comic books, avengers, justice league, super villains etc. Physically, they are usually tall, big, and super strong. On the mental side, they are described as someone who is brave, courageous, determined and are willing to help others and even risk their lives by taking sacrifices. All in all, a hero as seen by many, is portrayed as someone who represents the best qualities of ourselves. However, for someone to be considered a hero, they don 't necessarily need to have all of these qualities as described above. According to Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, every hero has a journey, and every hero 's journey consist of a departure, an initiation, and a return. Therefore, although Holden may not be seen as the society 's typical hero, his characteristics and attributes make him seem like one.

Holden travels to New York where he deals with the troubles of the city and with his own problems. A quest for maturing (the hero 's various adventures along the way). The following events contribute to the initiation phase. Holden gets really drunk at a bar, he goes to Lavender Room, a nightclub in the Hotel, where he dances with Bernice Krebs, and later Maurice, the elevator man, offers him a prostitute for the night and he accepts it. During the hero 's initiation, he is most likely to get through a severe challenge. The passage in the book that confirms this is right after Holden gets knocked out by Stradlater. "I kept sitting there on the floor till I heard old Stradlater close the door and go down to the corridor to the can. Then I got up. 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 liked it, and then I went over and took a look at my stupid face in the mirror" (Salinger 45). "It partly scared me and it partly fascinated me. All that blood and all sort of made me look tough" (Salinger 45) Through these two passages, we can notice that everytime Holden puts himself in a tough situation, he puts on his hat. The first thing he did after getting up from Stradlater 's punch was try to find the red hunting hat, which gives him confidence and support. Almost as if the hat was a shield for a superhero or a suit of armor for a knight. The hunting hat is Holden 's protective