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A Perfect Day For Bananafish
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The character of a good day of bananafish
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The human mind, only able to withstand so much pressure before losing control, is like a volcano. The harsh truths that accumulate throughout the course of one’s life can lead to devastation, the eruption of the mind’s volcano. American twentieth century author, J.D. Salinger, illustrates the devastating consequences caused by a buildup of emotions and a lack of communication in his short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” Salinger “has become, in biographer Ian Hamilton's phrase, ‘famous for not wanting to be famous’ ” (Stevick). In this short story, Salinger details the interactions of the main character, Seymour Glass, with Sybil Carpenter, a young girl. Through these interactions, Salinger provides the reader with a glimpse into Seymour’s unstable, troubled mind. Seymour’s demise shows the importance of true communication and the expression of such emotions. By releasing societal pressures and not allowing oneself to be plagued by materialistic ideals, one can truly achieve a stable state of mind. Through the use of symbolism, foreshadowing, and motif, J.D. Salinger's short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” communicates the theme that effective communication is often a monumental struggle.
Salinger uses the sun as a symbol for the effects of materialism. If the sun represents the “burn” or impact of materialism on an individual, then Muriel, suffering from a painful sunburn, is engulfed by a materialistic world. Seymour, on the other hand, pale and guarded from the sun’s penetrating rays, exists sheltered and excluded from materialistic society, choosing to dwell on simpler, childlike pleasures. Muriel’s mother tells her daughter, “My goodness, he [Seymour] needs the sun. Can't you make him?" (Salinger 5). This insta...
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...7. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
Moran, Daniel. "Critical Essay on 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish.'" Short Stories for Students. Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale, 2003.Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
"Overview: 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish.'" Short Stories for Students. Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Salinger, J. D. "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Nine Stories. 3-9. Excerpt from Nine Stories. PDF file. http://materlakes.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2013/2/25/50973306/Nine_Stories_by_J_D__Salinger.pdf
Stevick, Philip. "J(erome) D(avid) Salinger." American Short-Story Writers, 1910-1945: Second Series. Ed. Bobby Ellen Kimbel. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 102. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
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
Charters, A. (2011). The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction (8th ed.). Boston: Bedfor/St. Martin's.
Story Time, by Edward Bloor, Harcourt: United States of America, 2001. 424 pages. Reviewed by Mar Vincent Agbay
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.
Wallace, Carey. “Critical Essay on ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish.’” Short Stories for Students. Ed. David A. Galens. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Roemer, Danielle M. "The Personal Narrative and Salinger's Catcher in the Rye". Western Folklore 51 (1992): 5-10.
In many novels written by J.D. Salinger, there is a recurring theme of love that
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print. 12 March 2014.
We might remember Jerome David Salinger as a man no one really knew. However, we may very well know more about him than we realize. To understand Salinger, we must not search, or invade the privacy he once so treasured, but take what’s right in front of us, and add it up. Looking back at Salinger’s past, we find many answers; but, what is the question? Well, there’s a question I’m here to answer, and that is: What in JD’s life led to how he wrote, what he wrote, and why he was oh-so-reclusive?
Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 1999.
Magill, Frank N., ed. Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Revised ed. Vol. 2. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1993. 7 vols.
A poem without any complications can force an author to say more with much less. Although that may sound quite cliché, it rings true when one examines “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth’s Bishop’s poem is on an exceedingly straightforward topic about the act of catching a fish. However, her ability to utilize thematic elements such as figurative language, imagery and tone allows for “The Fish” to be about something greater. These three elements weave themselves together to create a work of art that goes beyond its simple subject.
American essayist Agnes Repplier once said, “Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding.” This is evident in Gary Soto’s young adult novel, A Summer Life. The book takes Gary Soto back to his childhood life in Fresno during the 1950s through a collection of his most memorable tales, pranks, and assorted adventures with his own special twist. As Gary Soto talks about the events in his childhood, he uses a variety of literary tools including irony and sensory details. In “A Summer Life,” Gary Soto uses many literary devices, including irony and sensory details to recall his childhood growing up in Fresno.