Perfect Day for Bananafish

1328 Words6 Pages
Brian Altschuler October 2, 2012 English 2261 A Perfect Day for Bananafish J. D. Salinger makes his readers really concentrate on his stories. To fully understand his works they need to be looked at a few times, and broken down into details in order to grasp the entire story. “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is a great example of how Salinger masks the true story in the details/clues he provides for the reader. One of the main points that he tries to make is right in the main characters name, Seymour Glass. “Seeing” is a major symbol throughout the story, and when analyzed so much more can be understood about the characters, and the theme of the story. The name Seymour, but pronounced “see-more” tells the reader that he interrupts society in a different more realistic light. He did not always have this view point, but during the war he was exposed to life or death situations, and had to live on the bare essentials. Upon coming back to the United States he realized that people were very materialistic, and lived what he thought were fake lives. Muriel is more concerned about her appearance than her husband’s emotions, and reads women’s magazines while Seymour reads poetry. They are both seeing the same thing, but evaluating completely differently; this shows how the two have grown apart, and have opposite prospective on life. Salinger starts the story off with a phone conversation, which provides important background on the characters that is not truly understood at the time. Muriel’s mother is quite concerned about Seymour’s emotional state. One of the first things she says is, “I've been worried to death about you” which is ironic because Seymour actually dies in the end, but it shows how the situation is serve, yet the much younger Muriel simple answers with “I'm fine. I'm hot. This is the hottest day they've had in Florida in.” Right from the
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