Ham on Rye

Alcohol is a dominating force in Ham on Rye, to the extent that the titular “rye” can be read as a reference to whiskey. Even though the novel depicts the formative years of Henry Chinaski, alcohol is everywhere in the young boy’s life. As such, the ever-present alcohol functions as a symbol of the rapid loss of innocence that Henry undergoes, and this loss of innocence also speaks to the loss of innocence in the novel it is most likely in reference to, The Catcher in the Rye. Henry grows up in a world where alcohol is everywhere, even though the United States was subject to prohibition laws from 1920 to 1933. The illegal yet available alcohol has a bewitching effect on the poor, alienated Henry. He grows up with very little, yet alcohol provides him with a form of escapism that is cheap and, by the time he is an adult, available. He begins by sneaking mouthfuls of wine in the basement of his friend’s parents’ house. Then, he steals beer from a refrigerator in the house of another friend. By the time he has run away from home, he has developed such a taste for alcohol that he can outdrink a gang of hardened criminals and win a small amount of money, which he then spends on more alcohol.