How can someone shield themselves from adulthood? In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is an antisocial teenager who is constantly flunking out of schools. Holden has a hard time socializing with others and finding people he likes. Flunking out of his third school in a row, Holden decides he needs a break from school before he returns home to disappoint his parents. Holden decides to go to New York City and try to have a good time before his parents realize he has flunked. During his stay there, Holden sees what it's like to be an adult and decides that he is not ready to grow up just yet. Although he doesn’t want to grow up, Holden knows he is and hopes for someone to to hold his hand into becoming an adult. Because no one can help guide him into his path to adulthood, Holden relies on his red hunting hat to do it by himself. Holden buys the red hunting hat in a store in New York and wears it in times of peril. He uses it after tough situations and after being rejected from adulthood. At the end of the book, Holden returns home to his parents …show more content…
Holden uses his hat to comfort him in challenging situations, when he messes up, or when he feels rejected from adulthood. Holden uses his hunting hat to provide that comfort to him when no one else is available. The hat serves as a way for Holden to feel safe after certain incidences in his life. In the beginning of the book, Holden buys the red hunting hat after he let his classmates down. “It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils.” - Page 17. In this situation, Holden buys the hat and wears it after he forgot the teams sports equipment in the subway. The whole team was mad at him and Holden needed something for comfort which leads him to buying the