Missing Chapter Rationale

Student 1

Ima A. Student

Mr. Webster

English 10B

13 October 2012

Missing Chapter Rationale

While the topic of choice for this Missing Chapter assignment is on the surface superficial and trivial, each minor decision in its crafting was geared towards a message pertinent to Salinger’s main theme in the novel, as will be explained. The missing chapter fits in the beginning of chapter three, after Holden’s return to Pencey from his visit to Mr. Spencer’s house, and before he begins to discuss his novels of choice.

The chapter serves as an explanation of how Holden bought his red hunting hat, but in doing so elaborates upon the theme that “society corrupts the individual”, and Holden’s desire to arrest this trend. The message of the chapter is that in striving to protect individuals from society, in being the “catcher in the rye”, Holden suffers from a depression rooted in the witnessing of society’s cruelty. The extended metaphor that the essence of Holden is in fact encapsulated in his hat shows the extent to which the novel’s main theme is connected to Holden, and illuminates the qualities of Holden’s conflict with society that make him a unique character to fiction. Just like Holden, the red hunting hat is ostracized and undervalued by society. Unlike many heroes however, Holden’s fight to fix the world is, as his teacher Mr. Antolini puts it, a desire to “die nobly for a cause” (188). Rather than push for reform, Holden refuses to participate in the one realm where he has control, his schooling. The result is a life of seclusion from a society that misunderstands and undervalues him, as he seems to lack initiative and intelligence, just as it does his hat. Beyond the extended metaphor, the chapter also includes an anecdote regarding Holden’s experience with the beggar. This emphasizes Holden’s sincere desire to be a successful “catcher in the rye”, while showing that the obstacles he faces are often overwhelming and indeed contribute to his depression.

In addition to expressing themes, language was manipulated in order to stress certain crucial aspects of Holden’s character. Devices, such as derogatory language (“crap”, “damn”, goddam”), the linguistic idiosyncrasies of the 1950s (“and all”, “you know”, “boy”), the hyperbole unique to Holden (“a hundred degrees below zero”, “a thousand shades of flannel jackets”), and the overly critical and depressed tone were used to mimic Holden’s voice as it appears in the novel. However, while Holden’s voice seems juvenile, it expresses a truly profound theme.

The Missing Chapter: Holden’s Red Hunting Hat

To tell you the truth, the whole trip with the fencing team was almost a complete waste. I say almost because I guess what saved it from being total crap was getting my hunting hat. In a way, though, it was still sort of sad actually.

You see I was stepping out of the subway with the fencing team when I realized we were on Fifth Avenue. The street with all that fancy designer crap. We were supposed to be somewhere down near lower Manhattan, but we were pretty lost. The thing is, I was really annoyed at myself for screwing the team over with that goddam foil business, and so I needed a stroll to clear my mind. I saw this sports store as soon as we were out on the sidewalk that looked nice as hell. I headed for that. I didn’t even tell the guys where I was going. I just sort of took off all of a sudden.

I’m not too big on sports myself, seeing as though I don’t have much wind, but the place had this window display out front with a hunting rifle about the size of New York. It was pretty impressive I have to say. When I got to the shop, I slid in quick. It was about a hundred degrees below zero outside.

I made a beeline for the back, where I figured it would be warmer. I guess it was less of a sports store than a hunting shop. You know, the ones with about a thousand shades of flannel jackets, every one with those corny elbow patches that guys at Pencey were always wearing. But they had this swell looking hunting hat. It was one of those jobs with soft earflaps and a long peak riding up the back. It was this really nice shade of red. The kind of red you could really admire. Not one of those crappy reds that look all watered down. If you really want to know though, the location depressed the hell outta me. The thing was jammed way back behind some of the jackets, barely hanging and all. It was only a dollar too. Boy, that really depressed me. I mean, here you have a nice hat and all that is just sort of left in the back of some goddam store all alone and underpriced. Stores are always doing crap like that.

But I still liked the thing, so I went back to the desk and handed it to the sales clerk. She thanked me for my purchase when I coughed up the dough. It was nice and all, but she said it in this sort of too smooth voice that only sales clerks have. I mean, you’d think they’d have a scratchy voice from talking the whole day, but they always lay on this phony falsetto crap that makes you feel all uncomfortable. It made me feel like puking, so I left. I put the hat on when I got outside.

I was still feeling sort of mad though, even though I’d got the hat, so I took this roundabout way back to the subway. I kind of let my mind wander. I was thinking about how nice it was have the hat to hug my head and keep me warm and all, when I passed this beggar. He was squatting on this cardboard mat, looking cold as hell. The whole way back to the stop I kept wondering how he survived out on the street with the weather the way it was.

When I got back, the team was horsing around with this map they had. They couldn’t figure out how to orient the damn thing. That made me sad as hell. The deal is, you have no goddam idea what to do when there’s this guy freezing out on the street and the whole time your crap team is back at some subway stop, looking all hopeless. Boy, don’t you ever wish time would just stop for a second and let you figure everything out? I wish to hell it did.

Works Cited

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1945.