Analysis Of J. D. Salinger's Franny And Zooey

In Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, Zooey ends up solving Franny’s spiritual breakdown through the help of his two older brothers, Buddy and Seymour. Even though these two do not actually appear in the story physically, they are both still there through their teachings and advice. Buddy and Seymour had a major influence on Franny and Zooey’s lives in an educational way and on a spiritual level. They “took over their education as early and as highhandedly as they did” (64) to ensure that in the future they would look back on what they were taught and apply it to their lives now. Zooey thinks back to their older brothers’ teachings to help Franny because she is attempting to use Seymour’s book to help her. He helps to solve Franny’s spiritual breakdown with old lessons and teachings from Buddy and Seymour. In the beginning of the book, we learn about the little green book and the Jesus Prayer. It is evident that Franny uses this book as her anchor. When Franny met with her boyfriend, she began to break …show more content…
When she got there she began to talk to her older brother Zooey. Zooey took time to figure out the right things to say. While he was in the tub he pulled out this “four-year old letter that was stained and torn in two places” (69). The condition of the letter reveals that this it has been pulled out and read over several times. The context of the letter instructs and advises. Buddy is telling Zooey, all of the things he should be doing and reminding him how and why he and Seymour raised them to be the way they are now. Zooey reads through the letter trying to find any useful lessons to help Franny. This shows that Zooey still goes to his older brother for help. In the letter he found the lesson of the “idea of no knowledge and the quest of knowledge” (65) and incorporates this idea into his lecture to Franny because she is trying to use the book for other reasons than what it’s meant