Holden lives in Ossenburg Hall at Pencey Prep and has a roommate named Stradlater; fairly handsome man who is said to be “Good with the ladies.” On the other hand an annoying, pimply fellow by the name of Ackley lives down the hall and bothers Holden as he loves to read alone. Ackley bothers the crap out of Holden the entire third chapter after Holden repeatedly tells him to shut up. For some awkward and weird reason Holden keeps talking about this red hat he has on that has a beak on it. I’m wondering what the hat has to do with any part of this book, or if it’s a metaphor for something else in his life? Close to the end of the third chapter, Stradlater comes into the apartment talking about this girl he met at the football game; her name was Jane Gallagher. Holden apparently knows her from the past as he is eager to go say hello but also scared almost as if he has some secret crush on her. Stradlater is a man with broad shoulders and good hygiene so he doesn’t seem to have trouble with the ladies, this makes Holden very nervous as he gives girls “the time” quite often. “Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake,” Ackley said. “That’s a deer shooting hat.” “Like hell it is.” I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. “This is a people shooting hat,” I said. “I shoot people in this hat.” Holden says this about this red hat with a beak on it, like I said before, this makes me think like what does the hat actually mean to him? Could it be a symbol for something in his life that he can’t let go of?
No comments:
Post a Comment