Analysis Of A Perfect Day For Bananafish

Moreover, Phil’s youngest son said about his father, “My father and I only board here.”. This further conveys the amount of time Phil spent at the office rather than at home; his own family didn’t even consider him in permanent residence at his own home. Other than anecdotes, Goodman additionally uses varying syntax to illustrate her annoyance at Phil’s choice of lifestyle. When describing Phil’s daily routine, her sentences are short, definitive, showing her distaste for Phil. “To Phil, it was work. He always ate egg salad sandwiches at his desk….On Saturdays, Phil wore a sports jacket to the office instead of a suit, because it was the weekend.” Goodman contrastingly uses lengthy, detailed sentences and phrases when describing Phil’s family, to convey her pity for them and show that Phil should have been spending more time at home rather than at work. “The youngest is twenty, a boy, a high school graduate who has spent the last couple of years, like a lot of his friends, doing enough odd jobs to stay in grass and food. He was the one who tried to grab at his father, and tried to mean enough to him to keep the man at home.” Although Goodman describes Phil’s family with sympathy and care, she does use sarcasm as a means to criticize the obituary’s description of the family. “She would be ‘well taken care of’.’”, Goodman quotes from the obituary, in reference to Phil’s wife, and she says “His ‘dearly beloved’ eldest of the ‘dearly beloved’

As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.

In J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories there are many tales centered on children, who are often depicted as a symbol of hope and connected with the values that stand in contrast to the ones typical of the adults corrupted by materialism. In my essay, I would like to concentrate on the portrayal of children in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Teddy”. Even though the way these characters are depicted is similar, a child protagonist in each of the stories is representative of different things. While Sibyl can be seen as a prototype of a childlike innocence, purity and simplicity, Teddy can hardly be considered a prototypical innocent child. Despite the simplicity of Sibyl’s thinking, her presence and behavior help the reader draw many complex

Finally, the reader is introduced to the character around whom the story is centered, the accursed murderess, Mrs. Wright. She is depicted to be a person of great life and vitality in her younger years, yet her life as Mrs. Wright is portrayed as one of grim sameness, maintaining a humorless daily grind, devoid of life as one regards it in a normal social sense. Although it is clear to the reader that Mrs. Wright is indeed the culprit, she is portrayed sympathetically because of that very lack of normalcy in her daily routine. Where she was once a girl of fun and laughter, it is clear that over the years she has been forced into a reclusive shell by a marriage to a man who has been singularly oppressive. It is equally clear that she finally was brought to her personal breaking point, dealing with her situation in a manner that was at once final and yet inconclusive, depending on the outcome of the legal investigation. It is notable that regardless of the outcome, Mrs. Wright had finally realized a state of peace within herself, a state which had been denied her for the duration of her relationship with the deceased.

In the final short story “Teddy”, the main character is a ten-year old boy who is as intuitive and intelligent as any character gets in this novel, with the exception of Seymour of course. Like Seymour Glass, Teddy sees the world differently than his peers. The two tend to focus their a lot of their attention on small details, such as orange peels, the colour of bathing suits, a woman that seemingly looks at Seymour’s feet, and appear to mirror a larger-scale vision of humanity. Teddy’s orange peels recall Seymour’s bananafish. Both their objects, in Seymour’s case an imaginary one, are somewhat allegorical in a sense that they seem to suggest a philosophical portrayal of humanity.

If any single element creates impact in J. D. Salinger's “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” it is the author's setting of a tragedy within a framework of the absolutely ordinary. Seymour Glass and his wife, Muriel, never actually interacting in the story, are staying in a Florida hotel, and everything surrounding them evokes mid-20th century American values. This environment then underscores the greater reality, which is that neither husband or wife is capable of understanding the other, and Salinger's emphasis on dialogue, tone, and dark humor combine to make Seymour's suicide both shocking and, upon reflection, understandable. What primarily evolves is an utter lack of true understanding between the couple.

The semi-hysterical conversation conveys the mother’s worry for her daughter’s safety and alludes to the fact that Muriel is not safe—in fact, she is in serious danger. With this phone conversation in J.D. Salinger’s short story “A perfect Day for Bananafish,” an undercurrent of danger, and possibly death, is introduced to the story. As a recurring motif, death profoundly influences how the characters perceive each other and react to different circumstances. Salinger employs

Typically, the ending of a book can be quite predicable since authors tend to be very straight forward onto exactly is what is going on in the characters’ minds. On the other hand, author J.D. Salinger decides to end his short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” in a shockingly and unexpected manner. The main character, Seymour Glass, and his wife Muriel, are vacationing at a resort in Florida. In the end of the story Seymour chooses to end his life. Although, his choice to commit suicide appears to be a mystery his comments, behavior, and interactions towards others throughout the story present enough evidence that Seymour was mentally unstable.

John Steinbeck suggests that “ to a monster the norm must seem monstrous, since everyone is normal to himself”. Just as some people are born missing limbs or with another physical birth defect, such as a birthmark, others could be born missing a trait vital to communicate with the world around them or lose a trait throughout the course of their life. Although this missing trait is not visible to others in society, does not mean it is any less serious. For instance, Seymour has a severe case of PTSD after returning from war that causes his actions to seem ‘abnormal’ to those around him, even his family. Furthermore, Seymour finds that the actions of those around him, the materialistically obsessed, are difficult for him to cope with. In J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, Salinger depicts how life is for the “monsters” like Seymour in such a materialistic society. Seymour, a seemingly normal man to the naked eye, is secluded from the world around him. Searching for an escape from such an uninviting society, Seymour takes some big grasps for help before committing to his eventual demise. Salinger begins his depiction of Seymour through disdain before he brings the audience to his heart breaking conclusion. Salinger indicates that the emotionally fragile cannot survive in a materialistic and superficial society because society is not willing to accept those who are different.

J.D. Salinger is the son of a Jewish father and a Christian mother. After enrollment at both NYU and Columbia University he devoted himself to writing and by 1940 he had published some short stories. But his career as a writer was interrupted by World War II. He was drafted into the war in 1942 and was moved to the Counter-Intelligence Corps in 1943. The next year he trained in England, joined the American Army’s Fourth Division, and landed at Utah Beach on D-Day. He then served in five European campaigns as Security Agent for the Twelfth Infantry Regiment. After the war he started his writing career back up for the New Yorker. Some of his most popular stories include his first story for The New Yorker, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" which is about the suicide of a veteran and "For Esmé With Love and Squalor" which describes a U.S. soldier 's meeting with two British kids. He has published a total of thirty five short stories including many in The Saturday Evening Post, Story, and Colliers between 1940 and 1948 and in The New Yorker from 1948 to 1965. He was also very interested in Zen Buddhism, Hindu-Buddhism, and other Eastern beliefs. Buddhism can be found throughout Nine Stories in the book 's closing story "Teddy." He also was a

In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, J.D. Salinger explores the rotting of innocence that comes with adulthood. The effects of materialism and corruption in human society, especially adults, is a common theme delivered in Salinger’s works. “Critics think of the story as a metaphorical representation of what happens to sensitive people in a materialistic society filled with people who are as greedy as the Bananafish about which Seymour tells Sybil” (Shuman). It is being suggested that Seymour is a sensitive person trapped in a materialistic society and surrounded by people like Muriel who are as greedy as the Bananafish. Seymour acknowledges his wife’s materialism as Muriel reveals, “He calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948” (Salinger). Seymour has dubbed his wife this title because he sees her narcissism and self-obsessive

During the nineteen fifties, as the population of the United States hurdled in a whirlpool of amiss, a writer sought to conserve innocence as teenagers move into adulthood. The change from their teenage years to adulthood made them question religion, friendships, and fate. J. D. Salinger saw this as a potential pitfall for teens; therefore, he adopts a unique writing style to which they can relate to. Sol and Miriam Salinger’s son, Jerome David Salinger, was born on January 1st, 1919 in New York (“Salinger”). Supported by her Jewish husband, a successful meat and cheese importer, Miriam was able to raise Salinger and his two older siblings in the fashionable apartment district of upper Manhattan (French). In 1934 Salinger attended Valley Forge Military academy, where he grasped literature and began writing short stories (French). In spite of later being drafted to be in the military during World War II, Salinger wrote numerous works which inspired the lives of countless Americans. Through his use of point of view, characterization, and symbolism, Salinger aims towards conserving teenagers’ innocence as they move into adulthood in The Catcher in the Rye.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a story all about societal flaws and imperfection, that contains writer’s craft and literary elements such as mood, symbolism, language, and imagery. The author Salinger describes a materialistic woman (Muriel) on the phone with her mother talking about her crazy husband (Seymour), and then tells of the husband on a beach playing with a little girl (Sybil). He tells a story about a fish, appropriately named a bananafish, that eat bananas and dies, after this the little girl says she sees a bananafish, causing him to have temporary insanity and go back to his hotel room where he kills himself. The reader wonders the reasons why Seymour kills himself, and what the bananafish story really means.

The Glass Family, consisting of seven children and a mother and father, were all a part of a quizzing radio show known as “It’s a Wise Child”. These seven children, all contributing to the show at some point of their childhood grew up having high expectations, and more often than not, being unable to meet them. In Franny and Zooey, J. D. Salinger portrays how success and fame at a young age has lasting negative effects on children and their families. The now grown kids and elderly parents both have issues associated with the drama of growing up popular. The family’s relationship is estranged due to the burden of stress exerted on the siblings. The children’s lives are now dependent on the mentality that they need to perfect everything.

J.D Salinger believes society turns each and every person into bananafish. In his short story A Perfect Day For Bananafish he expresses some of his views on the American society and the problems that he has with it. He believes Americans put too much value in material possessions and that their lives, shaped by a constant bombardment of advertisements and new products that are bigger and better than the last, are harmful to them, and the people around them. Salinger uses his short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish to represent the materialism and consumerism of American society.