What is the significance of Sybil? Why do you think Seymour relates to Sybil better than to others?Ħ. What do you think of the way that shell shock/war trauma is characterized in the story? Do you think that Muriel is sympathetic to Seymour’s mental condition?ĥ. How do you explain Salinger’s need to revisit the topic of Seymour so often in his later work? Do you think he regretted killing Seymour off in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish?”Ĥ. Why did the author choose that fate for Seymour?ģ. Why do you think Seymour kills himself at the end of the story?Ģ. O’Hearn, S: “The development of Seymour Glass as a figure of hope in the fiction of JD Salinger” Open Dissertations and Theses, 1982Īs you will learn if you browse the critical articles listed above, there are a myriad of things that Salinger scholars like to discuss when talking about “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” Here is a list of critical questions that the articles above will help you answer.ġ. Mazzaro, JL: “People in Glass Houses” The North American Review, 1964 Glazier, L: “The Glass Family Saga: Argument and Epiphany” College English, 1965īoe, AF: For Seymour: With Love and Judgement” Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, 1963īryan, JE: “Salinger’s Seymour’s Suicide” College English, 1962 Smith, D: “Salinger’s Nine Stories: Fifty Years Later” The Antioch Review, 2003 Wiegand, W: “JD Salinger: seventy-eight bananas” Chicago Review, 1958īaskett, SS: “The Splendid/Squalid World of JD Salinger” Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, 1963 Levine, P: “JD Salinger: The Development of the Misfit Hero” Twentieth Century Literature 1958 17 Detroit Gale, 2003 from Literature Resource CenterĪllsop, Kenneth: The Dissentient Mood “The Angry Decade: A Survey of the Cultural Revolt of the Nineteen-FiftiesĬotter, James Finn: “A Source for Seymour’s Suicide: Rilke’s Voices and Salinger’s Nine Stories” papers on Language and Literature 25.1 (Winter 1989) p83-98 reprinted in Short Stories for Students Moran, Daniel: “Critical Essay on ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish'” Short Stories for Students. Detroit Gale, 2003 from Literature Resource Center Salinger’s ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish'” Studies in Short Fiction 10.1 (winter 1973) p 27-34 reprinted in Short Stories for Students Ed David A Galens Vol. Lane, Gary: “Seymour’s Suicide Again: A New Reading of J.D. Smith, Dominic: “Salinger’s Nine Stories: fifty years later” Antioch Review (61:4) 2003, 639-49Īlsen, Eberhard: “New light on the nervous breakdowns of Salinger’s Sergeant X and Seymour Glass” CLA Journal (45:3) 2002, 379-87 Greiner, Donald J: “Updike and Salinger: a literary incident.” Critique: studies in contemporary fiction (47:2) 2006, 415-30. Criticism:įor an overview of each critical article, click on the link to each, or visit our Bibliographical Journal Article section.įassano, Anthony: “Salinger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish” Explicator (66:3) 2008, 149-50 Reviews:įor reviews of Nine Stories in general, please see the Nine Stories Primary Text Page. He has a strange outburst at fellow hotel guests in the elevator, goes back into his hotel room, looks at his wife, retrieves his gun from his luggage, sits on the bed, and shoots himself in the head. He exaplains that bananafish “lead a very tragic life” in that they swim into a hole underwater and gorge themselves on bananas so much that they can’t get out and die.Īfter he and Sybil’s time in the water Seymour goes back into the hotel. He and Sybil have a characteristically Salingeresque conversation wherein Seymour tells Sybil to keep an eye out for bananafish. Sybil walks down the beach and approaches a man (Seymour) who is lying in his robe on the beach. Her mother leaves to go back up to the hotel to have a drink Sybil is on the beach, having suntan lotion applied by her mother. Her call finally gets connected, and she proceeds to have a long conversation with her mother, who expresses a great deal of concern about Muriel because she seems to think that Seymour is crazy. The story opens on Muriel alone in she and Seymour’s hotel room. She and her mother are staying in the same hotel as Seymour and Muriel.Īnother little girl who is staying in the same hotel. Muriel’s mother, who expresses great concern about Seymour’s state of mind.Ī four-year-old little girl who interacts with Seymour on the beach. He’s on vacation with his wife in Florida. Character List:Ī young, newlywed soldier who has just returned from the war. Later published as part of the collection Nine Stories.
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