Short Story Literary Analysis Essay. In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, JD Salinger employs literary devices such as

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1 Erin Timmins Timmins 1 Mr. Jere Mendelsohn AP English Literature December 2, 2014 Short Story Literary Analysis Essay In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, JD Salinger employs literary devices such as metaphors, allegories, diction, style, and point of view to develop the characters, the plot, and explore the Modernism/ Post- Modernism theme of a search for ways to deal with the absurdities and complexities of life. JD Salinger uses point of view and metaphor to illustrate how Seymour deals with the absurdities and complexities of life. Before going into the ocean with Sybil, Seymour says, A bananafish, he said, and undid the belt of his robe. He took off the robe. His shoulders were white and narrow, and his trunks were royal blue (Salinger 14). Salinger uses third person view to show how Seymour sees himself. The words to describe Seymour, white and blue, can represent purity, innocence, and sadness. Seymour is searching for his own purity and innocence as a way to deal with the unbearable memories from World War II. In this scene Salinger not only reveals Seymour s search, but also shows that Seymour is comfortable and open with Sybil. This openness is shown when he undoes the belt of his robe. Through the use of the metaphor, Salinger reveals that Seymour deals with his past by searching for innocence. In his search, Seymour looks to Sybil; He reached in front of him and took both of Sybil s ankles in his hands (Salinger 14). Seymour searches for the innocence he has lost and tries to grab onto Sybil. Sybil represents innocence and purity, Not in my face, baby, the young man said,

2 Timmins 2 which Seymour has lost. He respects Sybil because of her innocence and because she is the one who sees and understands Seymour. Salinger also uses diction and allegory to show how Seymour deals with the absurdities and complexities of his life. Sybil is released from her preoccupied mother, Stopping only to sink a foot in a soggy, collapsed castle, she was soon out of the area reserved for guests of the hotel. She walked for about a quarter of a mile and then suddenly broke into an oblique run up the soft part of the beach. She stopped short when she reached the place where a young man was lying on his back (Salinger 13). Salinger uses the words out of the area to show that Sybil and Seymour are out of the comfort zone. Seymour chooses to be out of the comfort zone where his wife and the rest of the world are. He chooses to go away from the absurdities of life, such as his wife, new calf skin luggage and nail-lacquer. Seymour s wife represents the absurdities of life because she is more preoccupied about shallow and materialistic things instead of Seymour s well being, Dr. Sivetski said Seymour may completely lose contr- I just got here, Mother. This is the first vacation I ve had in years (Salinger 10). Seymour explains the habits of the bananafish to Sybil, who is unaware of the allegory, Well, they swim into a hole where there s a lot of bananas. They re very ordinary-looking fish when they swim in. But once they get in, they behave like pigs. Why, I ve known some bananafish to swim into a banana hole and eat as many as seventy-eight bananas Naturally, after that they re so fat they can t get out of the hole again. Can t fit through the door. What happens to them? Well, I hate to tell you, Sybil. They die. Why? asked Sybil. Well, they get banana fever. It s a terrible disease. I just saw one Saw what, my love? A bananafish (Salinger 16-17). Seymour opens up to Sybil about his past using this allegory. He feels comfortable and understood by Sybil in comparison to his oblivious wife. Sybil stating she saw a bananafish

3 Timmins 3 represents her seeing and understands Seymour. With her statement, Sybil seals Seymour s fate. Since Sybil means oracle and the bananafish represents Seymour, Sybil prophesies that Seymour will die like the bananafish. Seymour s search for innocence to deal with the complexities of life is shattered after Seymour s encounter with Sybil. Lastly, Salinger employs diction and style to show how Seymour cannot deal with the oblivious world around him or his past. After Sybil leaves, Seymour closes up again, The young man put on his robe, closed with lapels tight and jammed his towel into his pocket. He picked up the slimy wet, cumbersome float and put it under his arm. He plodded alone through the soft, hot sand toward the hotel (Salinger 17). After spending time with Sybil, Seymour realizes that he can t regain his innocence, which was his only way of dealing with his memories of when he was a soldier during World War II. Salinger s use of words like jammed shows Seymour being closed off to the world. After Seymour s interaction with Sybil, he realizes that he can never regain his innocence. With this realization, Seymour cannot deal with his wife and society s absurdities and the complexities of life. This realization ultimately prompts him to take his own life. Seymour returns to his hotel room, The room smelled of new calfskin luggage and naillacquer remover. He glanced at the girl lying asleep on one of the twin beds. Then he went over to one of the pieces of luggage, opened it, and from under a pile of shorts and undershirts he took out an Ortgies caliber 7.65 automatic. He released the magazine, looked at it, then reinserted it. He cocked the piece. 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 (Salinger 18). Salinger s sentences are short and precise. This terse writing style reflects the soldier mindset that Seymour is in. Seymour has found no way to deal with his wife and the incognizant world new calfskin luggage and nail-lacquer. In addition, Seymour cannot handle the painful memories of his

4 experience in World War II. He cannot hold on to his innocence and his wife does not Timmins 4 understand. Seymour kills himself next to his sleeping wife. Seymour s wife will wake up to the harsh reality that Seymour is dead and that he never was really mentally well after returning from the war. In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, metaphor, allegory, diction, style, and point of view are employed by JD Salinger to develop the characters, plot, and to explore the Modernism/ Post-Modernism theme of the search for ways to deal with the absurdities and complexities of life. JD Salinger wrote this short story as a reflection of his own search for a way to deal with his experiences and memories of being a soldier during World War II. Salinger is also commenting on American society at that time. Seymour s wife represents American society and Seymour represents the scarred soldiers after World War II. In this short story, Salinger reflects how after World War II, people did not understand what the soldiers went through.

5 Timmins 5 Works Cited Salinger, JD. A Perfect Day for Bananafish. Nine Stories. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, Print.

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