Re: a banal question

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Next message: Camille Scaysbrook: "Re: Chapter 19"
• Previous message: Camille Scaysbrook: "JDS's use of Capitals - Buddhism link"
• Maybe in reply to: Cheryl Cline: "a banal question"

----------
> From: Cheryl Cline <ccline@uclink4.berkeley.edu>
> To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
> Subject: a banal question
> Date: Wednesday, 4 March 1998 11:34
> 
> What was the significance of Holden's hunting hat in Catcher in the
> Rye?  I never did get it.
> 
> Cheryl Cline

Interesting question. I've heard it defined as a symbol of Holden's
ionoclasm, but I have a suggestion

To `hunt' is to wish to `catch' - Holden is not only a `catcher' but a
`hunter' as well. His search thru New York City is a `hunt' in which he
searches for ideas and ideologies to `catch' before they fall off the
cliff, so to speak. Therefore his giving of the hat to Phoebe in the end
symbolises the realisation that she is about to leave childhood and become
a `hunter' and `catcher' herself.

• Next message: Camille Scaysbrook: "Re: Chapter 19"
• Previous message: Camille Scaysbrook: "JDS's use of Capitals - Buddhism link"
• Maybe in reply to: Cheryl Cline: "a banal question"