A Perfect Day for Bananafish

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    Images of war lingering in the mind of a soldier from WWII, for one with these thoughts it can be difficult to come back to society and live a normal life. J.D. Salinger writes about a young man by the name of Seymour Glass, who has returned from war and struggles to fit into society. In the short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” Seymour struggles in a life of alienation from society; a corrupt world with the lack of innocence. He tries to find innocence in this life and he holds on dearly to what little innocence he finds. In the end, he cannot live anymore and decides to end his search for innocence. Seymour Glass’ life was depicted as a life full of opportunity after war, what the other characters of the short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” do not know is that Seymour Glass is stuck between a world of innocence and adulthood. In the beginning of the short story Muriel was introduced, the wife of Seymour. Muriel is in a telephone call with her mother; this conversation was about the worries Muriel’s mother has about the mental state of Seymour. During this phone call Muriel’s name is not said until the end of the call; throughout the call Muriel was referred to as “she” and…

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    Perfect Day For Bananafish

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    “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Teddy”: Salinger’s Commentary on the American Society In J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories, featuring “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Teddy”, he skillfully illustrates the societal struggles of materialism and worldliness, and its destructive impact on people’s personal lives. Through his complex characters, Salinger depicts how the American lifestyle erodes the core values of family, as shown in his portrayal of marriage, and the neglect of children.…

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    In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” J.D. Salinger uses a conglomeration of symbols and motifs to represent Seymour and the materialism and greed of adults in society; Diction and a motif of different colors portray his feelings and emotions which may have led him to take his own life after the war. Seymour comes home from the war and can not merge into society. Salinger uses the bananafish to represent Seymour’s life; Seymour goes to war and the bananafish “swim into a banana hole” (Salinger).…

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    In J.D. Salinger’s famous short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Seymour Glass returns from war after having experienced atrocities to a wife and a society that are materialistic and unempathetic. He feels lonely and trapped, with a wife invested in only herself and an unempathetic society. Seymour realizes that nobody in his life comprehends his struggles to adjust to a post war America because they are so focused on material objects rather than people. Seymour’s wife Muriel reveals her…

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    Now death is another predominant theme in Salinger’s works and depending on the stories plot and characters death can play various roles. For instance, in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” death or suicide is Seymour’s character and state of mind. In Seymour’s case death is treated as an escape for him as he cannot function comfortable in his everyday life. Wiegand notes that “Seymour can express himself only to a little girl” and that “the secretly prying eyes of others he is unable to bear”…

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    “When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” (Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind) Patrick Rothfuss analyses how childhood innocence and the lack of responsibility can be irresistible. For some, transitioning from the simplicity of youth to the daunting reality of adulthood can be a demanding task. Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye and…

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    “Post-Traumatic Stress Injury isn't a disease. It's a wound to the soul that never heals” Tom Glenn. The short story A Perfect day for Bananafish is a story about a war veteran named Seymour who is having a hard time adjusting to his new normal life. Throughout the story, Seymour does things that show he is struggling with PTSD and the loss of his innocence. We can learn that war can change people and they may never be the same. The story starts out with Muriel on the phone with her mother in…

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    I have read many short stories in my time. Some of them have well rounded characters, some of them have flat characters. Some characters in narratives are easy to understand, everyone knows everything about them, but, there a few stories where the protagonist is misunderstood. There is one character that sticks out among all of them I know. That character is Seymour Glass, the protagonist in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”. This is also the character I will be focusing on in this essay. We know…

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    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…

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    How “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” shows the difficulty of communication between children and adults. We live in a society with two types of people, the ones that have not experienced the world, and those that have. Between these different types of people, the lack of understanding each other can cause a communication barrier as neither can communicate the loss of purity and the of absence of knowledge of how the world functions. The barrier between innocence and adult sexuality prevent…

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