Reading Analysis: A Perfect Day for Bananafish

            A Perfect Day for Bananafish, written by J. D. Salinger, ends with a man committing suicide. You know that the story is an interesting one when the tale ends with somebody killing themselves. And through analysis of the characters, the motifs, symbolism and the setting, I’ve found out that there’s more than one layer to the short story. There’s what people can read, and the deeper parts of the thing that they can interpret.

This Week's Assignment:

Read "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and, on your blog, compare the characters to CitR

Comparison:

Truth be told, I honestly had a hard time comparing the characters to one another. But, finally, I came up with a good set.

I mostly identified Seymour with Holden, mostly because the two have a different way of viewing things. (Really, both characters have problems with their mental faculties.) Both have an obsession with innocence. However, Holden's story Catcher in the Rye is the story about how he loses his innocence. Seymour's is where he completely isolates himself in a state of innocence to the point where he can not function in a modern society.

Muriel could have been one of many characters in CitR, but I mostly compared her to Sally Hayes. Both women are completely taken by social status and material objects. The conversation in the beginning of the story just shows how Muriel and her mother are obsessed with how they look. Both have lost their innocence because of society.

Finally, I identified Sybil with Phoebe. Like Holden from CitR, Seymour finds amusement and beauty in her youth and innocence. I don’t believe that Seymour is necessarily a pedophile, but he is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from his experiences from the war. He associates Sybil with innocence and finds her alluring and pure and radiant. However, he also realizes how people falsely try to preserve their innocence and how they’ve all together lost it. I do think that’s what eventually drove Seymour to his suicide.

You know, when I start up a new blog, I do think I’ll do a full on analysis of this story. I liked it better than Salinger’s novel, to be honest. =)