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Fight club themes and analysis
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In the novel Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk remarks, “The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.” Jerome David Salinger expanded on this idea through writing the short story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". The literary genius was born on January 1, 1919 in New York City. He earned his education from public schools in the West Side of Manhattan and after moving, from McBurney School where he wrote for the school's newspaper and was manager of the fencing team. In 1941, Salinger began submitting stories for The New Yorker magazine, but was soon drafted into the army in 1942. During this time, he met with a great influence to his writing, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway praised Salinger’s writing and remarked on his talent during their correspondence. After a few years of fighting in the war, J.D. Salinger was assigned to the counter-intelligence division due to his fluency in German and French where he was sent to interrogate the war prisoners. Subsequent to his service in counter-intelligence, Salinger submitted a short story titled “Bananafish” to The New Yorker in 1947. Another highly acclaimed literary work of his is The Catcher in The Rye, which was published in 1951. (Charles McGrath)
“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” revolves around the main character, Seymour Glass and his wife as they vacation in Florida just after World War II in 1948. It is soon revealed that Seymour Glass is suspected to have mental illness after his return from the war, leaving his wife, Muriel, and all the people around him in danger. A materialistic wife with little regard for Seymour’s mental health, Muriel displays a sizable lack of interest for the people around her. The reader is left in sus...
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J.D Salinger as born in New York City on January 1, 1919, he didn’t wright many novels in which he was renowned for. But one day, he did write one novel that brought him instant fame. In J.D. Salinger’s, Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy on the brink of adulthood, and he is trying to make sense of his existents and where he belongs. He also refuses to lose his innocence even though he knows is inevitable.
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As Irving Howe once observed, “The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.” In a dynamic society, innocence evades even the youngest members of our world; it evades even the nonexistent members of our world. J.D. Salinger explores this elusive innocence in his short story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Distinct similarities appear between the main character, Seymour Glass, and Salinger including the World War II experience and attraction for younger, more innocent people (Salerno). Salinger conveys this through Seymour’s preference of a young girl’s company over his own wife's company. Throughout the story, “Salinger constantly draws attention to himself and his precocious intellect” (Daniel Moran). “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” revolves around an army veteran post-World War II who visits a beach resort with his wife but spends more time there with the young Sybil Carpenter. Using a historical context of World War II and portrayal of many different characters, Salinger effectively depicts the story of a man in a desperate search for innocence. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” J.D. Salinger uses symbolism and figurative language to stress the concept of unattainable innocence.
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