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. …show more content…
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
We begin by beginning, I guess. " Montag from Fahrenheit 451 is a good example of someone who carries those traits. A hero is the best kind of person that someone can be.
Throughout the book, Holden Caulfield occasionally feel lonely and depressed. He hates how people are trying to pretend someone they are not. Holden Caulfield wears his hunting hat while he was in one of the biggest city in the world, which is unique. Caulfield’s red hunting hat made Holden
The repeating symbols of The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger shows many ways that J.D. Salinger and his Characters are trying to convey in the themes of Keeping innocence of his sibling and objects and people in general character shows. The way he gets through this is by using his red hunting hat as a security blanket. J.D. Salinger uses many and symbols and actions of the main character, Holden Caulfield, to convey his main repeated symbol of innocence and attempting to keep it and making Holden's red hunting hat to be a big part of preserving innocence in the younger characters in the novel. Holden caulfield uses his red hunting hat as a sort of security blanket that allows him to do thing he would not normally do himself.
J.D. masterfully explains how Holden is in a low point of his life right at the moment, he also does not care for what others think about him. Not to point out but Holden only wears his hat in pirate because he is embarrassed to wear it out in public. Holden wants to be different from everyone because he gains a little bit of comfort and satisfaction from the red hunting hat. Not only that, but in the novel Holden asks the taxi driver an absurd question "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South?
Holden tries to prevent the inevitable, but one must move on with their life, and that is, contributed to the loss of innocence. His hat keeps him safe from the societal horrors that steal one's innocence. So when he has finally comes to grips with the fact that he must become older, and make grown up decisions, he gives his hat to Phoebe when, she takes it out of his pocket and offers it to him, since it was raining, but he says “You can wear it awhile” (Salinger 233), he does this because he wants to protect her now and stop running away from his
Blaise Engle English 9 CP Period 6 Mrs. Gowanlock Tuesday, December 21 CITR Essay Throughout the majority of the Catcher in the Rye J.D Salinger employs several different symbols that define Holden's personality. One particular object that set him apart from everyone else was his red hunting hat. It is brought up on several different occasions in the book and is often described as an article that reminds him of his brother Allie and sister Phoebe. Salinger furthermore develops the red hunting hat into a symbol by referring to it several times as Holden's own form of uniqueness, aiding in the theme of “ protection of the innocence” and the resistance of maturity.
In The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a rebellious and angsty teen who suffers from internal and external conflict. Holden continously tries to create a conflict where there is none. However, after he creates these issues he is unwilling to face them. Holden’s internal conflict is his inability to accept responsibility for his actions, while his external conflict is the tension between him and anyone who succeeds. In this manner Holden continually pushes people away and refuses to accept the existence of these conflicts until the end of the novel.
Since one of Holden’s few sources of comfort comes from an object, we can tell how alone he truly feels. Additionally, the symbol of the hunting hat Holden wears represents anger and isolation. At one point, Holden fights with Stradlater. After the fight, Holden remains beaten up, depressed, and all alone. He puts on his hunting hat, almost for comfort or companionship.
When the hat is pulled to the front, he cannot “see a goddam thing” and says he’s “going blind” (21). The pain from Allie’s death pushes Holden to seclude himself from a world he sees as cold and ominous. More importantly, it prevents him from looking at his own mind and realizing Allie is the reason he is lonely. As if losing own brother wasn’t enough, Holden also loses the presence of his older brother D.B.. The conflict begins when he leaves Holden by moving to Hollywood, and Holden says D.B. will only “maybe” drive him home after his therapy ends (1).
There is a hero in almost every story. A hero doesn’t always necessarily involve physical strength, it can be defined many other ways. A hero is someone who is idealized for their noble qualities, courage and outstanding achievements. In Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, the hero in the story is Victor Frankenstein. Victor sacrifices his family, his life, and other peoples lives for his pursuit of creating life, and attempting to cure diseases.
Furthermore, Holden starts to hate all the adults or loses faith in them, calls them phony. Holden has a second thought of becoming an adult he loses hope in his future and it seems to him nothing in the world matters to him anymore. We can see that throughout the book. He smokes, gets drunk, and does daring acts like getting a prostitute in his room. He also tries to escape all this guilt and grief by wasting time with unnecessary people he calls phony.
Change Can Be Good As one grows up they may experience dramatic changes in their life that they wish had never occurred. In The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger, the main Character Holden Caulfield, goes through loss as his life begins to change right in front of him. His brother Allie who Holden was very close with, passes away, and his family and friends are all moving forward with their lives.
”(pg.212) The last sentence when Phoebe tells Holden that he can keep his hat for a while is saying that she is allowing him to not grow up for now. And that is what kills him because she just granted him or welcomed him back in safe haven. And Holden does have the option to leave and grow up he just doesn’t want just like the boy from the museum. “Can’t he talk?”
The red hunting hat represents Holden’s allure/endearment to unique qualities in objects and people, that normally go unnoticed by others. The hat also symbolizes Holden’s individuality and unwillingness to conform to society’s
Throughout the novel, Holden’s observations are often unreliable because he lacks experience to fully understand or simply because he is denies the truth. After the fight with Stradlater, Holden says "All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I 'd only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I 'm not too tough. I 'm a pacifist, if you want to know the truth" (46).