A Perfect Day For Bananafish Allegory Essay

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

in the war, the trauma caused by war, and the aftermath of it all.
Salinger uses the bananafish to represent the soldiers in the war, and Seymour is the story’s “bananafish”. “Why, I’ve known some bananafish to swim into a banana hole and eat as many as seventy-eight bananas.” (Salinger 89) This quote is said by Seymour to his friend Sybil who is a child he meets on the beach. Seymour was in the war and after his experience, he could not mentally come back to this real, non-war life. “Mother,” said the girl, “you talk about him as though he were a raving maniac--” (84) Muriel’s mother does not accept her daughter’s relationship with Seymour because of the state that he is in. Her mother thinks it is not safe for Muriel to be around Seymour. “You remember that book he sent me from Germany? You know--those German poems.” (82) This quote is Muriel on the phone with her mother. This story takes place in 1948, a few years after WWII ended. Seymour fought in Germany and sent his wife books when he was there. This is another example of how Seymour was a soldier in that time period. When soldiers fight in wars, there is always going to be trauma.
Seymour developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after his experiences in the war. “If you want to look at my feet, say so,” said the young man. “But don’t be a God-damned sneak about it.” (Salinger 90) Seymour says this quote when he is talking to a lady in the elevator who he thought was looking at his feet. He thinks people are looking at him but they really are not, and he does not like it when people look at him. “You know Seymour,” said the girl, and crossed her legs again. “He says he doesn’t want a lot of fools looking at his tattoo.” (Salinger 85) Muriel says this when she is on the phone with her mother, and it is another example of how Seymour does not like people looking at him. It makes him feel uncomfortable to have people staring at him so he would not want to do anything to make strangers feel the need to look at him more. “When I think of how you waited for that boy all through the war-I mean when you think of all those crazy little wives who--” (84) This is another example of how Muriel’s mother does not want her daughter to be in a relationship with Seymour. Muriel’s mother thinks that Seymour is dangerous because of the state he is in that was caused by his being in the war. Seymour’s PTSD makes him only a danger to himself.
At the end of a bananafish’s lifetime, the bananafish dies when it eats too many bananas.

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

himself.
Salinger uses allegory to convey the theme of war. There has been war ever since the dawn of time, it is apart of human nature. Anyone who has killed someone in any context is traumatized afterwards. Whether it is a mother aborting her child or a soldier killing someone at battle, they are bound to have some sort of traumatic aftereffect. Seymour was traumatized by his experiences in the war which causes him to kill himself because he does not want to be “stuck” in his banana hole. “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” shows an accurate representation of the life of a soldier using a “bananafish” to describe the true terrors caused by war in a more simpler way.