Catcher In The Rye Individuality

“Catcher in the Rye” Essay:
What do you think are the most important aspects of the human psyche? What do you think gives us the will to live? To J.D. Salinger, author of “The Catcher in the Rye”the three most important aspects are individuality, protection and connections to humanity. These aspects represent three important aspects of a person's humanity, which are knowing that you are important to the world around you, that you have protection from the world, and that you have a reason to live in society. These needs, which appear in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs are considered necessary for a will to live. In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden and his relationship with his hat represents his individuality, protection and connection
to humanity through Pheobe. These specific gains from the hat represent three important aspects of a person's humanity, which are knowing that you are important to the world around you, that you have protection from the world, and that you have a reason to live in society. These needs, which appear in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs are considered necessary for a will to live.
Throughout the book, it is shown that Holden is given protection from the cold, the rain, and the world by his hat. When Phoebe was going to run away with Holden, Holden tried to make her realize that he was not a good role model by trying to make her stay home. He took Phoebe to the carousel, but then it started to rain. Because of that, Phoebe put the hunting hat on Holden to cover him from the rain. “My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way; but I got soaked anyway. ” Page 115. Holden is in the rain. While in the rain, he puts his hat on for “protection” from the rain. But he still got “soaked”. In this quote, it shown to us that Holden is using the hat for physical protection, as in something that will affect his body from the outside. When Holden puts the hat on, the hat does not block all the rain, but”a lot”. Previously in the book, Holden had used this hat to block the cold and the wind perfectly. But in this instance, the hat does not work as well. The reason why J.D Salinger put this passage in the book is to demonstrate that as people move throughout the world, they might have done something a certain way, or only used a certain tool. But eventually, they will come to an obstacle that cannot be overcome with the same tools that they have used before.
This represents the state of life, a constant evolution in order to survive. This important part of physical protection is put in by the author is demonstrate the importance of protection to a person. With protection, there would be no method to life. Holden has been wearing that hat as a way to escape the weather. Bu without protection, Holden would have never escaped the water. After getting kicked out of Percy for bad grades, Holden is walking through the cold street of New York. While outside, it gets so cold that it started to snow. So, in order to keep himself warm he puts the hat on. “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 chunks of ice. That worried me. I thought probably I'd get pneumonia and die.” Page 83. Because it is cold, Holden is “shivering” in order to keep warmth. Even though the “hunting hat” was “on”, Holden still had “little chunks of ice” on his head. Holden thought that he would
get “pneumonia” from the “little chunks of ice”.
From this, we see the hat give another physical protection from the world. This time, he protect Holden from the ice and cold, but it does not do a good job. Holden's hat not being able to protect him is not common throughout the book. This idea of being unable to be protected by something that has protected you before is like Holdens idea of growing up. J.D Salinger puts this passage in the book to show Holden's viewpoint of growing up, which is that as a kid, innocence is always their to help you, but as time passes on innocence gets lost and stops being used by people, leading to the “phoniness” in the world. This physical protection because Holden has to believe that he is protected in order to function. While feeling cold, Holden thinks that he will get pneumonia and die. By adding this section to the book, the author demonstrates that physical protection is important because not only does it prevent you from dying, but it reminds you of the importance of human life. While Holden is talking with Ackley, Holden puts his hat over his head because Ackley is annoying him. “What I did was, I pulled the old peak of my hunting hat around to the front, then pulled it way down over my eyes. That way, I couldn't see a goddam thing. “
Page 12. While Holden is sitting in his room with Ackley, he is getting annoyed at Ackley because Ackley is always talking and lying to him. So he “pulled down” the top of his hat in front of his “eyes” so that he could stop talking to Ackley. In this quote, it is shown that Holden used the hat for an emotional reason. He covered his eyes from Ackley not because it was making him cold, or because it was raining. He covered his eyes to tell Ackley to stop talking to him because he was not interested. The reason why J.D. Salinger put this passager into the book because this is protection that the hat gives Holden is an emotional protection. It is incorporated into the text because having protection is an important part of the human mind. Without protection, who live in fear. In this case, Holden protects himself from Ackleys nonsense by covering himself with the hat. This is a protection form what is defined as “phoniness” throughout the book. As demonstrated throughout the book, it is shown that Holden is given protection from the cold, the rain, and the world by his hat, which covers him from what he perceives to be phony.