Finding a Way Out: J.D. Sallinger

Finding a Way Out

Jerome David Salinger was an influential writer in the 1950’s. He reflected his own personal life in all his fictional stories and several of Salinger’s fictional characters appear to be alter egos at various stages of his life. The autobiographical fiction “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is a reflection of Salinger’s own war experience and his marital infidelity. The story focuses on the main character Seymour Glass, who is a veteran of World War 2 and consequently a victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a result of the traumatic event he had encountered, Seymour Glass grew feelings of detachment and estrangement from the society that surrounded him. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” J.D. Salinger ingeniously uses conflict, characterization, and motivation to reveal how victims who have suffered a traumatic event may be driven to a state of isolation.

After returning from a devastating war, Seymour Glass finds it difficult readjusting to civilian life and the challenge to fit into society becomes the underlying conflict in the story. It is typical and almost expected that soldiers who have been involved in a traumatic war may lead them to symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Being a victim of PTSD, Seymour suffers from ominous recurring flashbacks, difficulty coping with painful memories, and maybe even something that is called “Survivors Guilt”; guilty of being alive while others are dead. Since the term PTSD was not yet coined during this era, there was a misunderstanding and confusion about the behavior of those affected soldiers. Seymour displayed signs of forgetfulness, anxiety, avoidance, and estrangement. In the beginning of the story, the phone conversation between Muriel and her mother re...

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...e to cope with the ominous recurring flashbacks and the heart-aching memories he suffered from every day. He may have been able to be saved if he only had an outlet to express his feelings. To that end, the significance of connection and communication between one another cannot be further stressed and hopefully this story was encouragement enough to reach out to fellow loved ones and even acquaintances in an effort to gain better relationships and advance as a society.

Works Cited

Alsen, Eberhard. A Reader's Guide to J.D. Salinger. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print.

French, Warren. J.D. Salinger, Revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1988. Print.

Gwynn, Frederick L. The Fiction of J.D. Salinger. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1963. Print.

Salinger, Jerome David. "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." The New Yorker 31 January 1948: 21-25. Print.