Among the titles on the list of the most challenged books in the United States, we find Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and The Catcher in rye by JD Salinger. These American classics, as controversial as they are, explore the essence of identifying as an American. Catch-22, a novel about soldiers serving in the United States Air Force during World War II, and The Catcher in the Rye, a book about a seventeen-year-old outcast living in New York, express society American through the American spirit and culture. , Identity and values. First, both authors have distinct ideologies that relate to their views of the American; in Catch-22, an American remains sane, but bordered by madmen, while in The Catcher in the Rye, the Americans give off a false and gloomy air. An example in Catch-22 where Yossarian realizes that he is the only sane person among the madmen occurs when he realizes: "The night was filled with horrors, and he thought he knew what Christ must have felt walking through the world, like a psychiatrist in a room full of weirdos, like a victim in a prison full of thieves” (Heller 425). Heller, trying to express the similarities between Yossarian and Christ, uses the emotion of loneliness, in addition to the feeling of sanity within a crazy society. Throughout the novel, the other characters consider Yossarian crazy while in the end, only Yossarian preserves his sanity. Yossarian's actions throughout the novel, however, develop into increasingly drastic and desperate attempts to escape the army. Unlike having a goal and pursuing it in an extreme way, the main character of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, faces a dilemma about what to do with his life. In fact, he tells the reader that... middle of paper ...... he wants to become "a rye catcher", he strives to protect children and preserve their innocence. In conclusion the two authors of Catch -22 and Catcher in the Rye effectively use the American spirit, culture, values ​​and identity to convey their point of view on America and its people. The novels contain lessons about war, society, individualism, life and death that will never fade. Many of these lessons apply today, as conflicts in the Middle East, like World War II, still leave Americans paranoid and haunted by fear of attack. To deepen one's vision of America, through the point of view of others, one may be justified in reading, however controversial, books such as Catch-22 and The Catcher in the Rye. Works Cited Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Print. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1951. Print.