Alefiyah Chandabhai
Professor Emily Havey
English 113
21, September 2015
Red Hunting Hat or Adulthood?
Young, depressed, suicidal Holden is sharing another “phony” incident that happened with him. In a novel by J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye, stars a young sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who is not happy in life. He suffers upon his younger brother Allies death and he doesn’t have a school to go to that he has not been expelled from, already. Holden has no true friends and he doesn’t seem to get along with anyone but his little sister Phoebe and his brother Allie. As Holden walks thorough New York City by himself he uses this red hunting hat, which comes out several times when he is put in odd situations where he does not know what…show more content… He hates mostly everything and everyone. Holden calls majority of everyone knows or saw a “moron” or a “phony”. That showed that he doesn’t have confidence in himself so that is why he is putting other people down. Because of the way his attitude is towards people, he gets into many fights with his roommates at school. Stating his frustration in one situation,"... 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" (Salinger, 45). Stadlater, Holden’s roommate punched Holden’s face because he kept calling Stadlater a moron. Stradlater warned Holden several times to be quiet but Holden didn’t listen and therefore, got punched. Holden did not hit him back or anything, all he did was he took his red hunting hat and put it on his face and looked in the mirror. Holden used his red hunting hat to cover up the problem he just got himself in. Holden has a problem with standing up for himself. The red hunting hat makes him feel that when people see it on him, the attention is diverted to the…show more content… In one incident he states , " My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway" (Salinger, 213). Holden was out with his little sister Phoebe when it started raining. Phoebe innocently put the red hunting hat on Holden's head to prevent him from getting soaked. Even though that did not help at all, considering that fact that his hat got soaked, he was really happy. Holden felt that his red hunting hat not only was supposed to get him getting wet but also protected him from losing his innocence as a