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Date Created
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2024
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Description
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I chose the red hunting hat as my craft object. In the novel, Holden buys this red hunting hat when he is ostracized by his fencing team due to his error of losing all the team’s equipment. This hat is indicative of Holden’s rage and rebellious spirit—and “when worn with the peak around to the back,” the hat also symbolizes Holden’s wish to be a catcher in the rye (Graham 45). The red color of the hat might also be related to Holden’s mourning for his deceased brother Allie, who had red hair (Graham 61). Later, Holden gifts this hat to his beloved younger sister Phoebe. The word origami comes from two Japanese words: “Japanese oru [“to fold”] and kami [“paper”]” (Robinson). It was a practice that was popular among nobles in ancient Japan due to the scarcity of paper (“Kinetic Joy”).
NARCISSA GU ON WHAT THIS CRAFTED OBJECT TEACHES US:
While research points to the invention of the practice of origami in Japan “about a thousand years ago,” the origin of origami can actually be traced back to China (Robinson). In ancient Japan, “Orikata, meaning folded shapes” was an important skill for members of the upper echelon. Different styles of “formal gift/ritual wrappings were developed for such things as money, poetry, and fans” (“Kinetic Joy”). Due to the high cost of paper, paper folding was restricted to the “privileged class for religious rituals, and formal ceremonies” before the invention of the more affordable washi paper in the Edo period (“Kinetic Joy”). In 1680, Japanese poet Ihara Saikaku mentioned an origami butterfly in a poem (Robinson). In the contemporary world, the influence of origami can be seen in various fields: “furniture design, home decor, architecture, installation art, robotics design, engineering, and medical solutions” (“Kinetic Joy”).
When I read the Catcher in the Rye for the first time, the red hunting hat and the way Holden wears it backwards really stood out to me due to their idiosyncrasy. Therefore, for this final project, I chose to create an origami hat that is inspired by the iconic red hunting hat. I first dabbled in origami when I was an elementary school student. A few years ago, I picked origami up as a pastime again, followed YouTube tutorials online, and was able to fold slightly more complex shapes such as a dress and a heart shape. What amazes me is the versatility of the paper. I got the paper for the origami at Munro’s bookstore in downtown Victoria, and the paper has Chinese-style prints on it (“Chinese Silk”). I followed a YouTube video in order to make this origami hat, and it took me several attempts before I could finally succeed in making the hat (“How to make paper hat”). I found that video tutorials were easier to follow than illustration guides.
The red hunting hat is an important motif in the novel. Holden purchases the hat after he feels like an outsider on the fencing team after he loses the fencing equipment on the subway. In this instance, the red hat signifies that Holden wants to keep a certain distance between him and the crowd in order to protect his ego and maintain his sense of uniqueness (SparkNote Editors). Holden also seeks his red hunting hat after he gets into a physical fight with his peer Stradlater, and this hat serves to shield him from the harm the outside world might inflict upon him (SparkNote Editors). The hat is indicative of “Holden’s anger (it is a people-shooting hat),” and it allows him to feel like a rebel in a world that sometimes does not accommodate him (Graham 45; SparkNote Editors). Furthermore, this hat “is a catcher’s hat (when worn with the peak around to the back),” and thus it echoes Holden’s wish to be a catcher in the rye (Graham 45). Holden also feels sort of hesitant to wear the hat in the public in some cases since he is grappling with his contradictory wishes of drawing attention to himself and conforming (SparkNote Editors). The red hat might be related to Holden’s deceased brother Allie, who had red hair (Graham 61). Near the end of the novel, Holden’s beloved sister Phoebe returns the red hunting hat to him when they are having an argument about Holden’s decision to run away to a faraway place (SparkNote Editors). In the end, after hearing Phoebe’s pleading to run away with him, Holden comes to his senses, forsakes his ridiculous and impractical plan, and takes on his responsibility as a responsible elder brother (Salinger 234). Holden decides to give in, receive treatment from therapists, and possibly resume his education (Salinger 234). From making the object, I came to the realization that just as paper seems to be thin and fragile, it can be molded into more resilient and enduring objects. Likewise, through trial and error, the emotionally volatile Holden can become a mature version of himself by the end of the novel.
The Catcher in the Rye is also a work that is unique. Salinger views American society after World War Two as one “frozen at the heart and thus unable to mature” even though American citizens did not have to worry about the standards of their materialistic life much (Rowe 79-80). Salinger is preoccupied with the fact that citizens “cannot generate enough respect for their own humanity to care either for their past or their future” (Rowe 79-80). Salinger’s “own half-Jewish ancestry” and his participation in World War Two made him sympathize with marginalized communities in American society (Benson 2). Holden’s “closeted Jewishness” leads him to question “‘his own privileged ‘white’culture”’ (Benson 6). Salinger penned most parts of the novel while he was involved in the war (Benson 7). In 1945, “not long after liberating Kaufering,” Salinger spent time at a mental asylum along with the first six chapters of the Catcher (Benson 9). Prior to the publication of the Catcher, Salinger sold his short story to movie producers and “gave up all creative rights” (Benson 41). Salinger was not happy with how the movie turned out and felt “implicit in the very culture he derided” (Benson 43). Salinger was wary of the fact that his published works are open to interpretations by readers and critics, and these works seem to have become “its own thing with a biography and a life all its own driven by a public and readership” (Benson 44).
The Catcher can be seen as an “antiestablishment, antiwhite supremacy novel” (Benson 41). Salinger sold his first story about Holden to the New Yorker, but the publication was set back to 1946 due to the “entry of the United States into World War II” (Salzman 3). Salinger also published some of his very important works in the New Yorker from 1948 to 1950 (Ghasemi and Ghafoori 24). However, the New Yorker turned down the chance to “run an excerpt of Catcher in 1951” since the editors believed that “‘the precocity of the four Caulfield children was not believable”’ (Menand qtd. in Ghasemi and Ghafoori 24).
The Catcher was “first published in July 1951 by Little, Brown … and Company and at the same time as a Book-of-the-Month-Club selection” (Benson 51-52). Within the first month of the Catcher’s publication, “Little, Brown and Company had reprinted the novel five times” (Benson 52). In 1951, the Catcher “stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place” (Whitfield qtd. in Ghasemi and Ghafoori 25). The paperback version of the Catcher emerged in “a Signet Books title in 1953, selling more than three million copies over the following decade” (Benson 52).
The paperback editions allowed younger generations to enjoy the novel, and university students also promoted the novel amongst their cohort (Graham 40). Then the academics started to take an interest in the novel, and university lecturers started to “include[e] it on courses in contemporary fiction and writ[e] academic analyses of it” from the “the late 1950s and into the 1960s” (Graham 40). In 1956, the first academic appraisal of the Catcher came out (Graham 41). Arthur Heiserman and James E. Miller, Jr. took notice of The Catcher’s “American literary heritage” and its “European heritage of the quest narrative” (Graham 41).
Most reviews were in favour of the novel (Graham 37). Some of the critics held the novel in high regard: Clifton Fadiman praised as the novel as a “rare miracle of fiction” (Laser and Fruman qtd. in Graham 37). “In the August 1951 issue of the Atlantic”, Breit praised the novel’s ability to “‘make the reader chuckle and—rare indeed—even laugh aloud"’ (Salzman 5). Some critics view the Catcher as overrated and not worthy of its critical acclaim (Benson 51). Some critics deemed the novel “‘monotonous and phony”’ since it contains “‘excessive use of amateur swearing and coarse language’” (Salzberg and Hall qtd. in Graham 38). Some critics, however, gave credit to the use of coarse language since this kind of diction indicates “‘the emotions and memories which overwhelm him’” (Salzberg qtd. in Graham 38). Some critics even feared that “wide circulation” of the novel would result in the increase of numbers of Holden-like figures in real life (Bloom qtd. in Graham 38).
The political environment of the 50s, which discouraged individualism, fueled censorship (Benson 53). The “first official complaint” filed against Catcher took place in 1955 (Graham 17). In a noteworthy case in 1962, there was a dispute about the novel being assigned to high school students in California on the grounds that the novel “‘takes the Lord’s name in vain 295 times and uses blatant blasphemy 587 times’” (Laser and Fruman qtd. in Graham 18). Another complaint highlighted how the novel was “‘obsessed with the abnormal and debauchery’” (Laser and Fruman qtd. in Graham 18).
Even though the novel was criticized for expletives and “references to sexuality,” what was truly concerning was probably “Holden’s indictment of an affluent white culture to which people aspired” (Benson 53). Salinger’s critique of “male-centered white supremacy through his narrator Holden Caulfield” also led the novel to be banned (Benson 12). The people who proposed banning this novel usually categorized themselves as belonging to the “New Right,” and this group is mainly constituted of “fundamental white male Christians” (Benson 15). The Catcher was regarded as “harbinger for the counter-culture of the 1960s” and the spokesperson for “alienated youth of the fifties” (Benson 53).
Two years after the publication of the Catcher, Salinger also got romantically involved with a woman named Claire who was much younger than him, and thus Salinger “retreated from his budding fame into a monastic-like apartment in Manhattan” (Benson 48). Salinger’s interest in “Eastern philosophy and religion,” which stressed the importance of “simplicity, nature, and spirituality,” might also explain his recluse-like lifestyle (Benson 48). Salinger later moved to “a plain farmhouse in Cornish, New Hampshire” and stopped publishing altogether after 1965 (Graham 8).
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References
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Benson, Josef. "J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye : A Cultural History." Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
“Chinese Silk Gift Wrapping Papers - 12 Sheets.” Tuttle, https://www.tuttlepublishing.com/new-releases/chinese-silk-gift-wrapping-papers.
Ghasemi, Parvin, and Masoud Ghafoori. “Salinger and Holden: Silent Heroes of Modern Times.” Kata (Surabaya), vol. 13, no. 1, 2011, pp. 19–36, https://doi.org/10.9744/kata.13.1.19-36.
Graham, Sarah. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Routledge, 2007. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.4324/9780203496015.
“How to make paper hat | Origami hat | Diy paper cap.” YouTube, uploaded by Slide Hunt Art, 18 May 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID73-GHft6c&t=43s.
“Kinetic Joy-Basic Principles of Paper Engineering.” Georgia Institute of Technology, https://paper.gatech.edu/kinetic-joy/history-origami.
Robinson, Nick. "Origami." Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Oct. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/art/origami. Accessed 9 December 2024.
Rowe, Joyce. “Holden Caulfield and American Protest.” New Essays on The Catcher in the Rye, edited by Jack Salzman, Cambridge University Press, 1992. pp 77–96. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511624537.006.
Salzman, Jack. “Introduction.” New Essays on The Catcher in the Rye, edited by Jack Salzman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. pp. 1–22. University of Victoria Library, https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1017/CBO9780511624537.