The theme of identity is about the discussion of the journey that the main characters take to eventually find out who they are; and how they have become this person. The identity is manifested in multiple aspects including how they perceive themselves and how they deal with the relationship with other people or other groups. During quest of this self-discovery, different approaches are adopted and different frustrations and conflicts are encountered by different persons. The Catcher in the Rye starts with the protagonist, Holden’s narration, at a mental institution, about his lousy weekend experience at New York City at the teenage time. Forrest Gump starts with the protagonist, with an IQ under 75, chronically talking about his own dramatic life experience at a bus stop with different people. To demonstrate the quests of identities of Holden and Forrest, I am going to talk respectively about their struggles with goodbyes, their view of love and sex, their frustrations with interpersonal relationships their efforts to keep the precious innocence and their self-awareness. Although both the Catcher in the Rye and Forest Gump address and agree that adult life is complicated and unpredictable. Holden believed that the phoniness and hypocrisy of adulthood are the source of the pain, while Forrest takes an innocent approach to see life as “a box of chocolate”, unpredictable yet pleasant. In terms of dealing with goodbyes, Holden and Forrest show drastically different