The main thematic similarity in these books--which have
very different kinds of themes, such as war versus idealized nature--are those of
alienation and loneliness in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and
isolation and identity in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. In
Hemingways' story, Frederick struggle with the isolation war imposes and with holding
onto his identity, which he merges with Catherine's. On a deeper level, Hemingway is
also exploring the identity of humankind after the vast death and destruction caused by
World War I.
In Salinger's story, Holden struggles for a satisfying
and plausible identity in a world marked for him by grief--he is ever grieving for
Allie--and falseness; he even decides Mr. Antolini is false prompting him to flee the
sanctuary he had found there:
"I have to go away," I said--boy, was I nervous!
I started putting on my ... pants in the dark. I could hardly get them on I was so ...
nervous.
Since he can not
find his true--and stable--identity in a world full of things he dislikes, as Phoebe
tells him, or even hates, as Antolini tells him, he has a growing sense of personal and
social isolation: he is isolated from personal relationships and isolated from social
interaction in a society for which he has neither respect nor trust, but from which he
hopes to save the innocent next generation, like the catcher in the rye in his
dream:
That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the
rye
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