My red Hunting Hat

In my personal opinion, the red hunting hat is a way of Holden expressing his freedom and voice. This one is open to interpretation. I always saw it as a symbol of Holden's identity. It's a bit strange and out of place, as is Holden. It's something he hides behind, choosing to wear it at times when he doesn't care how he looks. He often hides behind fake identities in the novel.Some draw a connection between the hat and his brother Allie, because Allie had such bright red hair. Maybe a way to hang on to his memory, with the hat?? I think there's definitely significance to Phoebe wearing the hat toward the end of the book. When Holden sees her walking toward him, wearing his hat and carrying his suitcase, it makes him realize Phoebe is following directly in his footsteps. This is what makes him change his mind about running away from home.

The first time we read The Catcher in the Rye, we noticed that this red hat kept cropping up, but actually, we didn't really know what to do with it. At first it just seemed a little ridiculous. After all, Holden just berated Mr. Spencer for being the kind of old guy that "can get a big bang out of buying a [Navajo] blanket," and here he is a few chapters later admitting that he himself gets "a big bang out of that hat." At least on this level, the hat hints that Holden has the same characteristics he judges in others. But at this point, that's not really news to us. There's definitely more hidden in this hat.Then we had to look at certain specific key passages, starting with the first time we see the hat. Holden tells us (towards the beginning of Chapter Three) that he bought the hat in New York that morning after he left all the fencing equipment on the subway and pissed off the entire team. So we know he's feeling particularly vulnerable at the time, though Holden would never admit to such a state as vulnerability.Overall, the red hunting hat has endless possibilites of purpose.