Symbolism In A Perfect Day For Bananafish?

Many soldiers coming home from battle during WW2 times would have mental issues. These mental issues are part of PTSD which many war veterans were diagnosed with in current times but in WW2 times it was not known. J.D Salinger wrote many different short stories some controversial with deep meanings. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” the main character Seymour suffers from “PTSD” but nobody helps him with this issue. Everyone around him continues to ignore the fact that he has these issues. Throughout the story each of the different characters see Seymour in a different way. Seymour finally has enough of everyone seeing him as different from everyone else and ends up committing suicide. Nobody knows why Seymour committed suicide because the …show more content…
There are many subtle symbols that the reader has to take a couple times to read the story to find and dissect. When Seymour is talking to Sybil he explains what a bananafish is, “…..they’re so fat they can’t get out of the hole again…” (Salinger). When Seymour explains what this creature he has made up is it seems like it is him being crazy but it is a symbol. Seymour sees the bananafish as his inner self and does not want to become a bananafish and become trapped (Martin). So Seymour is using the bananafish to represent him not wanting to become part of society and become trapped. While talking to Sybil Seymour mentions something about Sybil’s bathing suit. He compliments it by saying “That’s a fine bathing suit you have on. If there’s one thing I like, it’s a blue bathing suit.”(Salinger). The only problem about this is Sybil’s bathing suit is not blue it is yellow. In the scene a lot of blue is used. The color blue is seen as a sign of innocence which describes Seymour (Galens). Everyone thinks Seymour is so messed up and that he is ready to freak out at any moment. Murial is one of the only people who says she thinks Seymour is normal and has nothing wrong with him. Murial is seen as very shallow because she tells her mom “This is the first vacation I’ve had in years, and im not going to just pack everything up and come home”(Salinger). She is also seen as shallow because instead of using the large window she has waiting for the phone call to spend time with Seymour, she does all sorts of grooming and organization (Galens). If Murial would spend more time with Seymour and actually helped him with his issues instead of denying it, Seymour would be ok and wouldn’t have his