A Perfect Day For Bananafish Allegory Essay

965 Words2 Pages

Some of the most famous authors have used allegories to express their message in a way that makes more sense to the readers. Whether it is George Orwell’s Animal Farm or Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, allegories are used to help the reader understand the bigger picture. In J.D Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” the main characters are the young couple Seymour and Muriel Glass. In the first part of the story, it is hinted that Seymour was in the war and is portrayed as a lost cause by his mother-in-law. However, in the second part it is very clear that Seymour is an ex-soldier living with P.T.S.D. Salinger’s use of allegory in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” suggests that different aspects of the bananafish’s life represents the soldiers …show more content…

Likewise, at the end of Seymour’s lifetime he kills himself because he killed too many people in the war.“‘Well, I hate to tell you, Sybil. They die’... ‘Well, they get banana fever. It’s a terrible disease.’” (89) Seymour is saying that when the bananafish swim into the holes, they eat too many bananas and develop banana fever and die. Salinger is saying how eating too many bananas is an allegory to killing too many soldiers in the war. “Naturally, after that they’re so fat they can’t get out of the hole again. Can’t fit through the door.” (Salinger 89) Seymour is saying that they get too fat and that the bananafish can’t get out of the hole again. When the soldiers get too caught up in war and have memories of killing people, they cannot get out of that mindset that they have actually ended someone’s life. “Then he went over and sat down on the unoccupied twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet through his right temple.” (90) This is when Seymour kills himself. Seymour was a bananafish who killed too many people and eventually got “too fat” and died. Seymour was so traumatized by the war that he could not live with himself anymore. This is the aftermath of his experiences, that he could not return to the life he used to live. He cannot “fit through the hole” to a “normal” lifestyle, so he kills

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