Catcher in the Rye #1

The book I read was Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. A variety of symbols are used throughout this story to portray who Holden truly is. Even his name is a symbol that demonstrates his need to stay in touch with his innocence. I won’t lie that I used spark notes to help me understand this book more in depth. The “Caul” in his last name Caulfield means a covering over a fetuses head. His name broken down can be Hold-on Caul-field, meaning he wants to hold on to the innocence of a child and not experience the world in a less positive light. Another symbol in this story was his red hunting hat. Detail means everything, so the fact that his hat was red is also a symbol. In the story it is stated that both of his siblings he was close with, Allie and Phoebe, had red hair and were either a child or never reached adulthood. I think the fact that his hat was red means that he wants to be stuck in childhood. Yet, the hat itself is a symbol of his need to maintain innocence. Whenever he wears the hat he swings “the peak way around to the back” (page 18) just like most children do when they wear a hat. Teenage boys and men wear their hats facing forward, for wearing it backwards is deemed childish or immature. Another point that can be made about the hat is that he puts it in his pocket when he doesn’t want to wear it, but he only wears it when he doesn’t want to be around others or is depressed. In other words his hat can be viewed as a “security blanket”. Most children have an object that they constantly keep in their possession in order to feel safe. For Holden I believe this is object that comforts him and protects him from what the real world has in store. In the very end of the story it begins to pour and Holden states, “My hunting hat gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway” (page 213). I believe the rain was a symbol of a new beginning. It shows that Holden had finally discovered that he had to grow up and the rain washed away all of his childish ways. His hat protected him literally from the rain, but symbolically from adulthood for a very long time. When he says he got soaked anyway, I believe he means that the hat could only protect him from adulthood for so long and now he had to face growing up. This story was full of symbols, but these are the few that I found were significant.