What are the motifs in Call It Sleep by Henry Roth?

Struggle for identity is a recurring idea. The classic "rite of passage" of all humans as they move from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood is certainly a common theme in literature throughout the world. Call It Sleep is no exception, as it traces two years in the childhood of David Schearl. David must move from the complete protection of his mother into an alien outside world of slum-dwelling children, into the tenuous development of a relationship with a harsh, tyrannical father, and into the need to blend the "old world" heritage of his parents with the new American urban culture of diversity and occasional vulgarity.