I recently wrote an article called Identity Motifs in The Goldfinch, The Catcher in the Rye, and Life As We Know It that was published over at Civilian Reader courtesy of y publicist over at Solaris Books. Growing up when I did, The Catcher in the Rye was hugely influential to me. Having recently read The Goldfinch, I couldn't help but derive some comparisons to Catcher, as well as my own search for identity in I Am A Cowboy In the Boat of Ra. I thought I might post a teaser here so that you can see what it's about and if you want, follow the link to Civilian Reader.
I was introduced to the idea of The Catcher in the Rye in 1979. I’d heard about this 1950s novel through my parents, both educators. I’d also heard about it through a Freshman English teacher at my High School. The reason I’d only heard about it and not seen it was because I was living in Tennessee and at the time it was a banned book. By banned, I don’t mean that there were any Fahrenheit 451 Fireman to come and burn them up — although I am sure there were those who wished that to be true. By banned I mean that the book was considered an unhealthy read and stores and libraries were urged not to provide them to young healthy minds. So it was with great delight that I was able to buy a copy of the book in 1981 at the local Walden Books store, who provided it from a box in the backroom and sold to me wrapped in brown paper so no one would see what I’d purchased.
Then I read it and was introduced to Holden Caulfield, who I would soon call a brother because of how he seemed to be me, or at least a shadow of me carried by the hot sun of Salinger’s early creativity.
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