Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literary impacts of world war 1
Literary impacts of world war 1
Impacts of WW1 on literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Literary impacts of world war 1
"I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll see if we can catch a bananafish" (Salinger 7). A bananafish is a fictional creature created in the mind of Seymour Glass, a character in J.D Salinger's "A Perfect Day For Bananafish." They are much like any other fish but they swim into holes where bananas grow, and eat so many bananas that they cannot escape. "A Perfect Day For Bananafish" was published in 1948 in the New York Magazine ("A Perfect Day For Bananafish"). The story is set on the sunny beaches of Florida, soon after WWII in 1948, expressed when Muriel, another character in this short story says, "He calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948" (Salinger 4). The year of 1948 is significant because at the time of publishing, Salinger had just arrived from the war.
J. D. Salinger is a well celebrated American writer famous for his novel The Catcher In The Rye and short stories compiled in Nine Stories. Born and raised in Manhattan, James David Salinger was drafted into the intelligence field of the military for WWII. Salinger was reported to have been traumatized by his experiences in an intelligence corps. According to his fellow service men, Salinger was always writing and was even caught in a picture, writing on a desk they found on the side of a road. Salinger is known for his magnificent writing and is still taught today by teachers all of over the country for his use of symbolism, irony, and more. In the short story, "A Perfect Day For Bananafish", Salinger supports the theme of the importance of communication through the use of symbolism, and imagery.
To begin with, in "A Perfect Day For Bananafish," the author uses symbolism such as Seymour's war souvenirs to support the theme of communication. Salinger expresses the importance of ...
... middle of paper ...
...y when he states, “‘If you want to look at my feet, say so,’ said the young man. ‘But don't be a God-damned sneak about it.’...‘I have two normal feet and I can't see the slightest God-damned reason why anybody should stare at them’” (Salinger 9).
To conclude, in "A Perfect Day For Bananafish", the author supports the theme that communication is important through the use of symbolism, and imagery. Hemingway uses the symbols of Sybil’s bathing suit, Seymour’s war souvenirs, and the story of the bananafish to support the importance of communication. Also to support this theme, he uses imagery in Seymour’s bathrobe and feet.
Works Cited
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Short Stories for Students. Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 233-254. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Salinger, James David. A Perfect Day For Bananafish. PDF file.
All of these are components of J. D. Salinger’s writing style. While the tone of The Catcher in the Rye may suggest a lighthearted, entertainment centered novel, the work is, in actuality, a deep study of human emotion and sympathy, as well as a dark portrait of the wickedness in the world.
Salinger, J. D.. The Catcher in the Rye. [1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 19511945. Print.
Wallace, Daniel. Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions. North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012. N. pag. Print.
In many novels written by J.D. Salinger, there is a recurring theme of love that
...at I believe about Mr. Salinger, but in the end, all it really comes down to is what you’ve learned from this, and how your opinion has formed. Just try and keep in mind that maybe, just maybe, Jerome David Salinger wrote what he wrote, was what he was, and lived how he lived, all because of his past, and how, all in all, God knew it would amount to nothing terrible, at all.
When one finds themselves in a reader’s position, they search for things in the novel that they can relate to. J. D. Salinger wrote a story that contained countless topics that people, past, present and future, can relate to in several ways. The novel follows the story of a troubled boy named Holden who leaves school due to his poor academic performance, an altercation with his roommate, and complications with his emotions due to the traumatic loss of his brother. He quickly understands how his narrow view of the world will lead him into trouble when he finds himself alone. The reader accompanies Holden through his stressful experiences over a period of three days through which we learn of his pain-filled past and negative outlook on the future. Some of the barriers Holden came upon during the time period of the novel are themes of everyday life. In The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger intends to grab his audience’s attention with the story of a young teen named Holden Caulfield who must face emotional damage, hidden truths, and accepting responsibility
- Salinger, J.D.. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1945.
"J. D. Salinger." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=avlr&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CK1631005792&asid=9d7e04ba37c8259de38b906c482330b4. Accessed 5 Nov. 2017.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print.
Every summer my family and I go to our house in the cape just north of Boston. One hot summer morning, I was leaving the house to meet my family at the beach, suddenly I remembered my mother asked me to pick up a jar of “Kingfish Herring” for her and her friend to snack on at the beach.
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1991. Print.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1951. Print
This current cultural environment of materialism during the post-World War II period inspired J.D Salinger to pen the short story “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish.” It is a story that details the suicide of Seymour Glass. Salinger, in his story, critiques the materialist consumerism that arose after the second world war. The American society has not been severely impacted by the war in comparison to Europe. The country was also doing well finally, and the economic prosperity that arises during the war meant that a large number of the population has sufficient finances to make unnecessary purchases (Franssen, 158). This lead to the emergence of a society that was characterized by greediness and spendthrifts. Essentially, suicide is an accomplishment in a "phony" society that is based on materialism.
Salinger, J. D. A Perfect Day for Bananafish. 1948. Nine Stories. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. American Heritage School. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, the role of the characterization corresponds to the theme: the loss innocence due to the corruption of wealth and materialism.