Hats have many purposes. They can protect someone from harsh weather, they can hide
someone from the rest of the world, or they can even make the wearer eccentric by wearing it. In
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, uses his red hunting hat to protect
himself from the society of "phonies" he views as the rest of the world. Holden blames the others
for being fake and "a bunch of phonies", but little does Holden realize he is just like them.
Holden wants to seek an original identity, and to be differentiated from the rest, but on the other
hand he is still insecure about his own image. Holden shows them when "It was freezing cold,
and I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on--I didn't give a damn how I looked"
(88). Holden's approach to a quick method of avoiding the real world is to put on his red hunting
cap. Holden cannot bear the burden of the adult world, so he retreats under the shelter of his hat.
The red hunting hat symbolizes Holden's reluctance to enter the world of adulthood because he is
too weak to handle the jobs associated with it, therefore staying with his hat.
Holden's red hunting represents his will be to be different from the rest of society. Holden
implies how he "still had [his] red hunting hat on, with the peak around to the back and all. [He]
really got a bang out of that hat" (27). Holden wants to be different than the others, but when the
time arises he is too "yellow" to be different, and therefore takes off his hat. He shows this by
telling himself in the piano bar how if "he were an actor of something" he would hate all the
people thinking how good he is. He has no planned out road in his life, along with few if any real
friends, yet he still criticizes the lives of the other people by making himself believe his is way
better. As the novel goes on, and Holden experiences more of the responsibilites of adulthood
and realizes he does not need his hat to make him different. Holden learns to care less about what
other's think about him, and rather set his focus on making the world a better place for the true
authentic beings: children.
Holden wants to remain innocent and hide from the adult world, all at first with the help of his
hunting hat. Holden "pulled the old peak of [his] hunting hat around to the front, then pulled it
way down over [his] eyes. That way, [he] couldn't see a goddam thing" ( ), that was he hoarses
around with Ackley. Holden associates adulthood with seriousness. For example, he talks about
how children look perfectly fine when they're asleep, but take adults, "they look lousy". Holden
constantly plays around with his friends, who don't seem to find it amusing, but Holden simply
does it because it makes him feel more like a child and less as an adolescent. Allie and his sister
Phoebe both represent the innocence that Holden fights for. They are one of the few people he is
interested in, and they both share common characteristics of his hunting hat.
Phoebe and Allie both have red hair, they are young, and they are innocent. The emotional
pain caused by the death of Allie devastates Holden, so in vain he tries to hide with his hunting
hat. He says, "After [Stadlater] left, I put on my pajamas and bathrobe and my old hunting hat,
and started writing the composition" (37). The colour red symbolizes strong emotions, such as
what Holden had for his younger brother Allie. Since Holden only has Phoebe left, he tries to
protect her from losing the innosence of a child. Holden tried to erase the "Fuck you" signs in her
school, but as he succeeded to erase the first another one showed up near the mummies in the
museum. He is trying to protect the innocent mind of Phoebe and all the other children from
being exposed to such a world at a young age. He wants to protect the children from exiting the
stage of innosence he finds so important. Unfortunately for him, he does not realize that Phoebe
is mature enough to handle these situations unlike her elder brother.
Holden grew a lot in New York. From his deep depression over the death of Allie, he learned
to rejoice in what he has, Phoebe, not at what was lost. In addition to that he accepted the fact
that he alone could not "erase" the world of bad influences. The hat that once provided sheer
shelter for Holden was now all but a simple hat. For example Holden complained, "Boy, I was
still shivering like a bastard, and the back of my hair, even though I had my hunting hat on, was
sort of full of little hunks of ice" (154). As Holden finally and willingly steps into the vast and
mysterious world of adulthood he leaves the innocence to the children, those who will one day
nevertheless have to face the challenges of being a teenager.