Abstract This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the short story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", by J.D. Salinger. Specifically, it explains the author's motives of alienation in the story. It shows how alienation forms the backbone of this story about a veteran returned from the war, and the difficulty he has in adjusting himself to returning to "normal" life at home. Alienation causes Seymour to feel desperate and psychotic and keeps him from experiencing the love and comfort he seems to need so very much. It explains how this theme also points out how we still tend to alienate the people around us today and shows we are a society far removed from emotional and caring bonds, in most cases.
From the Paper "Each of the characters in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" suffers their own form of alienation and withdrawal from the world, and this ultimately leads to the tragic ending of this unusual and disturbing short story. Author Salinger uses these motives of alienation to finally show why Seymour kills himself, and how alienation is so prevalent and destructive in our modern society. The main character, Seymour Glass, is a rather pathetic man who is on a "second honeymoon" with his wife, Muriel, after he returns from the war. He spends his days isolated on the beach, wrapped in a terrycloth robe, while his vain and selfish wife paints her nails in their hotel room. Everyone is afraid of Seymour, because he has acted very strangely since his return, as Muriel's mother rants about on the phone to her daughter."
Abstract This paper discusses J.D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and how it relates to zen koan. The paper shows how the story functions not as a conclusive narrative statement, but as a paradox or, more precisely, a Zen koan. It focuses on how the story encourages thought but eludes coherent meaning and how it never reaches a conclusion.
From the Paper "Despite his simple, unaffected prose, Salinger's symbolism in "Bananafish" is confounding. It characterizes Seymour as being at once a broken victim of war who's seen too much and a spiritual seeker who thirsts to see more; it paints Sybil as being both angelic and vicious, a naive innocent and a perceptive prophet. An understanding of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," at first glance a frustratingly paradoxical if not imperfect story, demands a consideration of Salinger's well-known interest in Zen Buddhism, made manifest in his epigraph to Nine Stories. Seen in that light, the story begins to resemble an insoluble Zen koan, and though attempting to find an "answer" to it might be as futile as fishing for bananafish, it is of its nature to encourage the reader to do just that, a nonetheless fruitful endeavor."
Abstract This paper presents a detailed personal biography of Salinger, his youth, growth as a writer and religion. It also shows a critical evaluation and analysis of most works (Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, Bananafish, more...) Elements of style are thoroughly examined and a review of other critical analyses are presented.
From the Paper ""Jesus, he has a helluva talent." The esteemed Ernest Hemingway has found one of the few ways accurately to describe J.D. Salinger. Truly one of America's most amazing authors, J.D. Salinger has rocked the modern world in a field where words of praise are scarce and criticisms are abundant. Inciting the adolescent populace with passion, Salinger calls attention to particulars in our society and questions the ethicality of people. ...
Abstract This paper examines how the characters Holden Caulfield, in "The Catcher in the Rye" and Seymour Glass in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish, have many characteristics in common. It looks at how both characters are non-conformists who don't fit in with the traditional American culture, how both have a love for children, and a hatred for "phonies" and how both have an obsession with death.
From the Paper "Seymour is interested in the company of four-year old Sybil Carpenter, a child he believes he can save from becoming a "phony". While swimming with the young girl, Seymour tells a tale of fish who swim into holes filled with bananas. These bananafish then gorge themselves on the fruit and, too fat to swim out of the holes, die of banana fever. Seymour is not a bananafish; it is the phonies of the world who are guilty of bingeing themselves with meaningless material objects until they become so superficial they are beyond hope of ever attaining spiritual purity. These people are intentional bananafishes."
Abstract This paper relates that J. D. Salinger's short fiction was influenced to a great extent by his participation in World War II and by the nervous breakdown he suffered when he returned from the battlefield. The paper then points out that, although their setting and main plot differ, his two short stories, "The Stranger" and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", have many common elements. The paper also relates that both texts have as main characters young men who recently returned from the war suffering from psychological stress. The paper concludes that, in both stories, war is seen as more than a mere experience of death and anguish; it is indicative of inhumanity, corruption and extreme violence as opposed to the world of innocence, which infancy represents.
From the Paper "Thus, the stories converge in a few points, the most important of which being the former soldier's emotional stress after the war and the refuge they try to take in the innocent world of the two girls, Sybil and Mattie. Thus, Babe notices with surprise the beautiful way in which his little sister makes a playful jump from the curve of the highway to its surface and listens to her innocent babble about some plays they could go and see. The apparently nonsense talk of the child is the most important part of the story as it stands in contrast with the crimes of the war."
