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Holden is attending Pencey Prep and discusses the reasons he's being kicked out, why he has to leave. Holden says, "Pencey Prep is this
school that's in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. You probably heard of it. You've probably seen
the ads, anyway. They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some
hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence. Like as if all you ever did at Pencey was
play polo all the time. I never even once saw a horse anywhere near the place" (Salinger 1). Holden sounds ready to leave Pencey Prep, as he constantly mocks the school and makes the reader believe he doesn't fit in there.

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Holden discusses why he originally bought the red hat in the first place, he recalls that it almost made him more self confident when wearing it. He says, " I took off my coat and my tie and unbuttoned my shirt collar; and then I put
on this hat that I'd bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one
of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out
of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck.
The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back--very corny, I'll admit,
but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way" (Salinger). He admits that the hat was corny but he then assures that he only wears it because it looks good on him, which is the start of him becoming confident and assured while having the hat with him.

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Holden recalls his last night in Pencey Prep before he left, and he says, ""I stood for a while next to the stairs and took a last look down the goddam corridor. I was sort of crying. I don't know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, 'Sleep tight, ya morons!' I'll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor" (Salinger). He is crying but as soon as he puts the red hat on he gains the confidence to yell at the top of his voice at all the people sleeping, as if the hat is his confidence.

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Before Holden goes into the Edmont hotel, he discusses why he can't where his hat into the hotel. He says, "We got to the Edmont Hotel, and I checked in. I'd put on my red hunting cap when I was in the cab, just for the hell of it, but I took it off before I checked in. I didn't want to look like a screwball or something. Which is really ironic. I didn't know then that the goddam hotel was full of perverts and morons. Screwballs all over the place" (Salinger). Here, he infers that he cannot wear his hat because it'll make him look like a "screwball", meaning in this part of the journey he is so focused on his own struggles that he lets them get to him, and no longer gains self confidence from the hunting hat.

Holden also often has depressive episodes. He often says he feels lousy, and lonely. In this situation, he goes as far to say he wishes he were dead, "... I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wish I was dead" (Salinger). Holden's mentality becomes increasingly more dark as the book goes on, especially during his road of trials. Because his attitude towards others results in some form of punishment, he feels lonely, lousy, and sometimes suicidal.

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When Holden gets beat up by Stradlater, it is caused by Holden's increased anger and nervousness about Stradlater's date with Jane. While becoming more anxious, Holden asks him questions about the upcoming date. Holden says, "I pulled the peak of my hunting hat around to the front all of a sudden, for a
change. I was getting sort of nervous, all of a sudden. I'm quite a nervous guy. 'Listen,
where ya going on your date with her?' I asked him. 'Ya know yet?'" (Salinger). The hat, in this situation, shows Holden's feelings becoming more nervous and increasingly more angry. His past with Jane is affecting him to the point that he ruins a friendship with Stradlater, and gets punched in the process of it.

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After Holden get's beat up by Stradlater, the first thing he does is pick up his red hat and put it on the way he prefers it. He says, "I kept sitting there on the floor till I heard old Stradlater close the door and go
down 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. You never saw such gore in your life. I had blood all over my mouth
and chin and even on my pajamas and bath robe. It partly scared me and it partly
fascinated me. 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" (Salinger). After he puts the hat on, he gains almost some form of self assurance as to what just happened, and moves on from it very swiftly. The hat once again brings back Holden's confidence and mental stability.

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When Holden goes to visit his little sister Phoebe at his parents apartment, he talks to her about what he wants to do in his future. He recalls when he heard the song the boy sang on Broadway, and tells Phoebe he wants to be the catcher in the rye. He says, ""Anyway, I keep picturing all
these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little
kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge
of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over
the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come
out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the
rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's
crazy."
Old Phoebe didn't say anything for a long time" (Salinger). He finally comes to a realization of what he wants to do and why it is important to him, and that allows him to make the shift in his life to get things in order.

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After Holden considers leaving his family and his past life behind and going for the west, when Phoebe talks to him about it, he gets a sense of happiness. He says, " My hunting hat really
gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way; but I got soaked anyway. I didn't care, though.
I felt so damn happy all of sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I
was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know
why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around,
in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could've been there" (Salinger). The hunting hat gives him a sense of protection in this moment from the rain, and as he watches Phoebe he gets a sense of happiness in that moment from her and his red hat, showing that the whole story, Phoebe and the red hat have been his only forms of something to lean on/rely on.

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Comfort in hard times results in self awareness and confidence.