Holden

Holden clearly feels alot of pain in his life. He uses many defense mechanisms to protect himself. He makes it as if he hates everyone. He does this distance himself from people. He makes this clear at the end of the novel when he explains that he hates talking about the people in his life because it makes him miss them and it makes him sad. His red hunting hat symbolizes him isolating himself. Holden wants to be different from others and the hat clearly sticks out like a sore thumb. 

Holden clearly misses his childhood and his time spent with Allie. This is symbolized in Allie's old baseball mitt which holden finds dear to him. It is also symbolized with his dream to be the catcher in the rye. Holden says he wants to "catch" the children running in the field. I feel this is Holden saying he wants to keep them from growing up.