Catcher In The Rye Identity Analysis

Catcher in the Rye, a novel written by J.D. Salinger, is a book about a young adult who has trouble dealing with his education and his personal life. Holden, the main character of the book, is conflicted on how to tell his family about getting kicked out of yet, another school. The novel Jack written by A.M. Homes is about a boy named Jack who is having trouble coping with the idea of his dad being gay and how he believes that this has ruined his family. They’re many challenges that people face in balancing their individual identities with finding meaningful connections with others. This can lead to pressure to conform to the expectations of others and/or society in general. However, family does play a factor in either the encouraging or make things worse. An individual’s unique identity may make it difficult to generate meaningful connections with others, especially with society’s lingering pressure for one to conform to social norms. However, family plays a role in one’s identity by influencing them to reveal …show more content…
“He sleeps with Bob, his roommate. They do things together.” (Page 70). This happens towards the middle of the book when Jack is being called ‘fag bag’. Maggie confronts Jack about how everyone has been saying fag baby around school and that the current news is that Maggie’s dad is going out with Jack’s dad. All these events cause Jack to scream “I am not a faggot.” (Page 68). Max realizes that Jack’s dad is a homosexual, and Max says that he doesn’t care although he does try to find an excuse for his godfather’s behavior. “Maybe it’s just a thing, you know, a phase.” Jack got angry and explains to Max that this is not a phase; his father is really a homosexual. Confirming this information to Max was hard for Jack because of the negative way that society views homosexuals especially in the time period in the book. Telling his family secrets and his dads identity was hard for