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The Catcher in the Rye vs. The Kitchen God’s Wife
Two books are never alike. Every book is unique in its own way and style. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, and The Kitchen God’s Wife, by Amy Tan, are both exceptional books that contain many similarities, yet they were still able to keep a style that was unique to them. The Catcher in the Rye and The Kitchen God’s Wife are alike in the narrative structure, characters, and the themes.
The Catcher in the Rye and The Kitchen God’s Wife have very similar narrative structures. Holden is the narrator of Catcher and the story is seen through his eyes. Holden Caulfield sees the world in the way that it had treated him, which causes him to express emotions and thoughts that seemed unfair and irrational to the world around him. The way the story unfolds allows understanding of Holden’s dealings with reality and his escape from his responsibilities. The Kitchen God’s Wife is a story of how Winnie Louis’ life was like before she came to America. Her story is told by her to her daughter in first person narrative that allows better perceiving of her actions and feelings. The two novels were able to effectively use first person narrative to tell the story that would not have the same feeling if not told through their eyes and with their thoughts.
Characters in The Catcher in the Rye and The Kitchen God’s Wife were very similar to each other. In Catcher, Holden is someone who was trying to escape life’s responsibilities by moving to a far away place to start anew. His immaturity makes him hide from the duties that he has to face in order to move on in life. Holden’s insecurity of the future causes him to criticize almost all aspect of the world in order to keep his own joy and utopia alive within himself. In Kitchen, Winnie is also trying to escape from her life, but due to the hardship that she already faces. Her strong will allowed her to keep hope in a better life and that permits her to accept things the way they are. These two books had similar characters who had tried to escape from an aspect of their life but were different in their wanting to flee.
The themes of the two books were different upon first thought but the underlying themes were very similar. The Catcher in the Rye was a theme of advancing through life and learning to deal with the responsibilities life gives. Holden was trying his very best to escape from the grasp of his life and tried to live his own life in his mind, where he would be carefree. In the end, he learned to tackle his own responsibilities and that it was the only way to go ahead in life. The Kitchen God’s Wife also had a theme of advancing through life and facing what it dealt you. Winnie lived [next page]