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A Perfect Day for Bananafish
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, originally published in the January 31, 1948 issue of The New Yorker. It was anthologized in 1949's 55 Short Stories from The New Yorker, as well as in Salinger's 1953 collection, Nine Stories.
18 pages
First published January 1, 1948
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About the author
J.D. Salinger
146 books16.2k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Works, most notably novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951), of American writer Jerome David Salinger often concern troubled, sensitive adolescents.
People well know this author for his reclusive nature. He published his last original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Reared in city of New York, Salinger began short stories in secondary school and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948, he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker, his subsequent home magazine. He released an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield especially influenced adolescent readers. Widely read and controversial, sells a quarter-million copies a year.
The success led to public attention and scrutiny: reclusive, he published new work less frequently. He followed with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.
Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton. In the late 1990s, Joyce Maynard, a close ex-lover, and Margaret Salinger, his daughter, wrote and released his memoirs. In 1996, a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish "Hapworth 16, 1924" in book form, but the ensuing publicity indefinitely delayed the release.
Another writer used one of his characters, resulting in copyright infringement; he filed a lawsuit against this writer and afterward made headlines around the globe in June 2009. Salinger died of natural causes at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.
Works, most notably novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951), of American writer Jerome David Salinger often concern troubled, sensitive adolescents.
People well know this author for his reclusive nature. He published his last original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Reared in city of New York, Salinger began short stories in secondary school and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948, he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker, his subsequent home magazine. He released an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield especially influenced adolescent readers. Widely read and controversial, sells a quarter-million copies a year.
The success led to public attention and scrutiny: reclusive, he published new work less frequently. He followed with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.
Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton. In the late 1990s, Joyce Maynard, a close ex-lover, and Margaret Salinger, his daughter, wrote and released his memoirs. In 1996, a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish "Hapworth 16, 1924" in book form, but the ensuing publicity indefinitely delayed the release.
Another writer used one of his characters, resulting in copyright infringement; he filed a lawsuit against this writer and afterward made headlines around the globe in June 2009. Salinger died of natural causes at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 746 reviews
February 15, 2013
Let's get one thing straight, Seymour Glass was not a sex offender. He never asked Sybil to look at 'his bananafish' as some ignorant reviewer posted.
This is a story about desperation, about a man who was exhausted of trying to fit into a society where he was not welcomed. In the beginning, with the conversation between Muriel and her mother, the reader can sense that Seymour might be mentally or emotionally unstable. Muriel is not like Seymour at all, she's superficial and centered around materialistic things. She was on the phone with her mother, but neither of them were listening to each other. They were talking at each other and not with each other. Muriel did not acknowledge her mother's concern for her and her mother did not hear the constant reassurances that Muriel was fine.
Seymour likes to spend his time alone, whether it be alone at the piano in a club or lounging at the beach. He just did not click with other adults. The only people he could make a connection to were children. This is why he was so fond of Sybil. Children were simple minded and innocent and not touched by the harsh darkness of the world. Seymour longs to regain the innocence that he had in childhood, the innocence he lost while growing up and leaving to war.
He goes out to the water with Sybil. He tells her that they are looking for bananafish, some mythical creature that he probably made up when he, himself, was a child. He tells her how the bananafish gorges itself on bananas until it is so stuffed it cannot leave its burrow. Then it dies. This signifies the process of growing up. Humans are so greedy that they take anything they can. We take in experiences: tragedy, heartbreak, hate, disappointment; until we cannot take anymore. He knows that in reality they will not find the fish. However, Sybil claims she saw the bananafish. This reminded Seymour of the childhood innocence and imagination, where magic still exists and bananafish roam the sea. He then goes back to the hotel.
Seymour is the bananafish. He took in all the tragedy that life had given him until he could not take it anymore. So full of contempt he could not fit into the adult world.
This is a story about desperation, about a man who was exhausted of trying to fit into a society where he was not welcomed. In the beginning, with the conversation between Muriel and her mother, the reader can sense that Seymour might be mentally or emotionally unstable. Muriel is not like Seymour at all, she's superficial and centered around materialistic things. She was on the phone with her mother, but neither of them were listening to each other. They were talking at each other and not with each other. Muriel did not acknowledge her mother's concern for her and her mother did not hear the constant reassurances that Muriel was fine.
Seymour likes to spend his time alone, whether it be alone at the piano in a club or lounging at the beach. He just did not click with other adults. The only people he could make a connection to were children. This is why he was so fond of Sybil. Children were simple minded and innocent and not touched by the harsh darkness of the world. Seymour longs to regain the innocence that he had in childhood, the innocence he lost while growing up and leaving to war.
He goes out to the water with Sybil. He tells her that they are looking for bananafish, some mythical creature that he probably made up when he, himself, was a child. He tells her how the bananafish gorges itself on bananas until it is so stuffed it cannot leave its burrow. Then it dies. This signifies the process of growing up. Humans are so greedy that they take anything they can. We take in experiences: tragedy, heartbreak, hate, disappointment; until we cannot take anymore. He knows that in reality they will not find the fish. However, Sybil claims she saw the bananafish. This reminded Seymour of the childhood innocence and imagination, where magic still exists and bananafish roam the sea. He then goes back to the hotel.
Seymour is the bananafish. He took in all the tragedy that life had given him until he could not take it anymore. So full of contempt he could not fit into the adult world.
January 7, 2024
First published in 1948, J.D.Salinger’s ‘A Perfect day for Bananafish’ is a short but strangely hypnotic read.
Seymour Glass is a War Veteran, and it’s clear to all, that his wartime experiences have left him mentally scarred. The main part of the story follows a telephone conversation between Seymour’s wife Muriel, (who is on holiday with her husband) and her mother. The mother is extremely worried about Muriel and Seymour going off on holiday - she doesn’t think Seymour is up to such a trip, and more to the point, is concerned about Seymour possibly harming Muriel, because he’s so mentally unstable.
A really sad story, and I’m still not sure how to define Seymour - his interactions with a young child seemed inappropriate, and I was afraid of what might happen, but could it be that he found solace in the innocent non challenging chatter of a child. Left me with lots questions!
Seymour Glass is a War Veteran, and it’s clear to all, that his wartime experiences have left him mentally scarred. The main part of the story follows a telephone conversation between Seymour’s wife Muriel, (who is on holiday with her husband) and her mother. The mother is extremely worried about Muriel and Seymour going off on holiday - she doesn’t think Seymour is up to such a trip, and more to the point, is concerned about Seymour possibly harming Muriel, because he’s so mentally unstable.
A really sad story, and I’m still not sure how to define Seymour - his interactions with a young child seemed inappropriate, and I was afraid of what might happen, but could it be that he found solace in the innocent non challenging chatter of a child. Left me with lots questions!
May 5, 2025
When I read this story in Salinger’s Nine Stories in 1974 as a young file clerk in a registry office - cheek and jowl with the cynical louts I had befriended there - I felt no closer to those friends than I was to my superiors, in a world filled with either hypocrisy or sheer staying power.
Or amorality.
A former psychiatric patient, I was far closer to Seymour (my heart went out to him!) but knew I was protected from his fate by my lifelong moral scaffolding. His was the classic Aristotelian tragedy, evoking fear and terror. I knew I would never go there…
My scaffolding, like the scaffolding that was to surround my beloved decaying St Patrick’s Basilica (thus elevated by Pope John Paul II) to protect passers-by from its falling decayed masonry while repairs on it were effected, protected my interior values from collapse.
Saint Paul says we are buried with the Lord in our baptism, and the catechisms that followed in my early life provided protection from the encroaching devaluation of the amorality of the masses.
As the decaying masonry of my values decomposed further at my coming of age, this moral scaffolding protected my friends and family from further discouragement with me, and saved them from falling fragments of my own cracked disillusionment.
The damage was minimal - but enough to ensure their lifelong distancing!
And it took me years to relearn the love I thought I had lost.
Love is fragile, and one angry word can seemingly disintegrate it.
Seymour heard and spoke one too many angry words, saw one too many bomb blasts, and for him - his personality split like mine by his boycotting of soulless satisfactions - love was then irretrievably lost.
He had no scaffolding.
And so his heart was borne at random "down the Dark of Life…"
And his end, of course, was inevitable.
But we, who still have love’s scaffolding about us:
Must never idly dismantle it until love has totally REBUILT our hearts -
And the Basilica of our Faith has been immovably fortified.
Or amorality.
A former psychiatric patient, I was far closer to Seymour (my heart went out to him!) but knew I was protected from his fate by my lifelong moral scaffolding. His was the classic Aristotelian tragedy, evoking fear and terror. I knew I would never go there…
My scaffolding, like the scaffolding that was to surround my beloved decaying St Patrick’s Basilica (thus elevated by Pope John Paul II) to protect passers-by from its falling decayed masonry while repairs on it were effected, protected my interior values from collapse.
Saint Paul says we are buried with the Lord in our baptism, and the catechisms that followed in my early life provided protection from the encroaching devaluation of the amorality of the masses.
As the decaying masonry of my values decomposed further at my coming of age, this moral scaffolding protected my friends and family from further discouragement with me, and saved them from falling fragments of my own cracked disillusionment.
The damage was minimal - but enough to ensure their lifelong distancing!
And it took me years to relearn the love I thought I had lost.
Love is fragile, and one angry word can seemingly disintegrate it.
Seymour heard and spoke one too many angry words, saw one too many bomb blasts, and for him - his personality split like mine by his boycotting of soulless satisfactions - love was then irretrievably lost.
He had no scaffolding.
And so his heart was borne at random "down the Dark of Life…"
And his end, of course, was inevitable.
But we, who still have love’s scaffolding about us:
Must never idly dismantle it until love has totally REBUILT our hearts -
And the Basilica of our Faith has been immovably fortified.
May 24, 2023
I am working on a project with a psychologist on using short stories for suicide prevention, so I reread this story that blew me away when I first read it decades ago. It's the opening story from Salinger's Nine Stories, and first appeared in the January 1948 issue of the New Yorker.
Here it is:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...
It is one of my favorite Salinger stories, one that led to his almost immediate critical acclaim as short and enigmatic and sweetly sad as it is.
The story features the Glass family, with Seymour Glass as the main character. In the first half of the story he is being discussed on the phone by his mother, calling from Manhattan, to Seymour's wife. Seymour and his wife are in Florida, on a short vacation. The dialogue is great, revealing the mother's concern for the troubled Seymour, though we don't know what his problem really is. What we do know is that Seymour is unstable, a young veteran back from WWII.
The second half of the story recalls The Catcher in the Rye in that Seymour has a sweet engagement with a little girl on the beach, that would seem to revive him. That connection to innocence the girl has, an innocence maybe Seymour has lost. At the beach Seymour wears his bathrobe, which makes him seem to us kinda goofy, something that more contemporary readers and viewers might associate with Wes Anderson films such as Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums. Or is he in real trouble, as the earlier phone call with mother suggests? He jokes with her about their going on a raft to fish for bananafish. I won't of course reveal the ending.
I heard that Salinger once flew to Paris to show Hemingway some of his stories, which Hem liked, and I can see why he would have liked this one, as much of what we may know in the tale--the war, Seymour's mental state--is largely submerged and requires the reader to piece together what is really going on. It reminds me of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," where the main topic of discussion is submerged--that Hemingway "iceberg" theory of mostly buried, unsaid meaning--in the text for the reader to infer. I love Salinger so much.
Here it is:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/19...
It is one of my favorite Salinger stories, one that led to his almost immediate critical acclaim as short and enigmatic and sweetly sad as it is.
The story features the Glass family, with Seymour Glass as the main character. In the first half of the story he is being discussed on the phone by his mother, calling from Manhattan, to Seymour's wife. Seymour and his wife are in Florida, on a short vacation. The dialogue is great, revealing the mother's concern for the troubled Seymour, though we don't know what his problem really is. What we do know is that Seymour is unstable, a young veteran back from WWII.
The second half of the story recalls The Catcher in the Rye in that Seymour has a sweet engagement with a little girl on the beach, that would seem to revive him. That connection to innocence the girl has, an innocence maybe Seymour has lost. At the beach Seymour wears his bathrobe, which makes him seem to us kinda goofy, something that more contemporary readers and viewers might associate with Wes Anderson films such as Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums. Or is he in real trouble, as the earlier phone call with mother suggests? He jokes with her about their going on a raft to fish for bananafish. I won't of course reveal the ending.
I heard that Salinger once flew to Paris to show Hemingway some of his stories, which Hem liked, and I can see why he would have liked this one, as much of what we may know in the tale--the war, Seymour's mental state--is largely submerged and requires the reader to piece together what is really going on. It reminds me of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," where the main topic of discussion is submerged--that Hemingway "iceberg" theory of mostly buried, unsaid meaning--in the text for the reader to infer. I love Salinger so much.
February 6, 2024
Странный рассказ о молодом человеке, Симоре Глассе, вернувшемся с войны с очевидным посттравматическим синдромом и покончившим жизнь самоубийством при отсутствии очевидных причин для этого. Помимо отсутствия причины для самоубийства, странным является его несомненная любовь к детям, нежелание, чтобы на его ноги смотрели, придуманная сказка о рыбках-бананках. Человек наслаждается общением с ребенком (именно наслаждается, потому что иначе бы он не стал бы купать, придерживая матрасик на волнах, не стал бы придумывать сказку), а после возвращается в отель, по пути повздорив с постоялицей отеля из-за того, что она якобы смотрит на его ноги, берет в руки пистолет, и взглянув на жену, стреляет в правый висок. Вы можете себе представить состояние проснувшейся от звука выстрела жены? Ей пост-травматический синдром точно обеспечен. Что это было – месть? Это позволяет думать, что жену на момент убийства он уже не любил, во всяком случае, не заботился о том ужасе, который он ей уготовил. Может, его угнетало отсутствие собственных детей? Автор нам не сообщает, читатель волен строить собственные интерпретации смысла рассказа. В интернете приводится огромное количество версий от дзен-буддизма до фрейдизма. Ненасытность рыбок-бананок, приводящая их к смерти, может быть ключом к пониманию мотивов поступков героя. Все остается непонятным, пока не прочитаете «Выше стропила, плотники». Моя рецензия на эту повесть здесь: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Важно отметить, что автору удалось передать боль, не говоря о ней. Это редкий дар.
Важно отметить, что автору удалось передать боль, не говоря о ней. Это редкий дар.
April 10, 2010
Easily one of the greatest short stories I've ever read. When I can spend more time thinking about the text than actually reading it, I know I've found something special.
October 20, 2025
A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a haunting and layered critique of post-war American culture, told through the tragic lens of Seymour Glass, a World War II veteran grappling with psychological trauma. Through its bifurcated structure and symbolic richness, the story explores the tension between innocence and materialism, ultimately culminating in a devastating conclusion.
The narrative unfolds in two contrasting scenes: a hotel room and a beach. In the hotel, Muriel Glass, Seymour’s wife, chats with her mother about Seymour’s erratic behavior and recent release from a psychiatric hospital. Their conversation is laced with superficial concerns-fashion, gossip, and luxury items-highlighting Muriel’s detachment from Seymour’s inner turmoil. This setting, saturated with consumerist imagery like calfskin luggage and nail-polish remover, serves as a microcosm of the materialistic post-war society Seymour finds repugnant.
On the beach, Seymour engages with Sybil Carpenter, a young girl whose innocence offers him a brief respite from his alienation. He tells her a whimsical yet ominous tale about bananafish-creatures that gorge themselves on bananas until they can no longer escape their hole, dying of “banana fever.” This parable becomes the story’s central symbol, interpreted as a metaphor for spiritual and emotional excess, greed, and entrapment.
Salinger’s critique of post-war America is embodied in Seymour’s profound sensitivity and spiritual dislocation. The adults around him, particularly Muriel and her mother, fail to understand his trauma, treating him as either a burden or a curiosity. Seymour’s only meaningful connection is with Sybil, whose childlike purity he yearns to reclaim. Yet even this innocence is tinged with complexity-Sybil displays jealousy, and Seymour’s kiss on her foot introduces a disturbing ambiguity that blurs the line between childlike affection and adult impulse.
The symbolic weight of Seymour’s last name, “Glass,” suggests transparency and fragility. As “see-more” Glass, Seymour perceives the emptiness of the world with painful clarity. His invisible tattoo- mentioned in passing by Muriel- further symbolizes the hidden psychological scars of war, unseen yet deeply etched into his psyche.
Seymour’s character is a poignant portrayal of what we now recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His emotional volatility and social withdrawal reflect the profound dissonance between his wartime experiences and the trivialities of civilian life. Salinger’s minimalist style, leaving much unsaid, mirrors the fractured nature of Seymour’s reality and the difficulty of genuine communication.
Ultimately, Seymour’s suicide is not merely an act of despair but a final, irreversible escape from a world that no longer accommodates his sensitivity or his search for meaning. The Florida resort, with its stark contrast between the suffocating hotel room and the open beach, underscores the chasm between external appearances and internal anguish.
Through Seymour Glass, Salinger crafts a character whose tragic end forces readers to confront the cost of emotional depth in a world obsessed with surfaces. The story’s subtlety and symbolism invite reflection long after its final line, making it a cornerstone of modern American literature.
The narrative unfolds in two contrasting scenes: a hotel room and a beach. In the hotel, Muriel Glass, Seymour’s wife, chats with her mother about Seymour’s erratic behavior and recent release from a psychiatric hospital. Their conversation is laced with superficial concerns-fashion, gossip, and luxury items-highlighting Muriel’s detachment from Seymour’s inner turmoil. This setting, saturated with consumerist imagery like calfskin luggage and nail-polish remover, serves as a microcosm of the materialistic post-war society Seymour finds repugnant.
On the beach, Seymour engages with Sybil Carpenter, a young girl whose innocence offers him a brief respite from his alienation. He tells her a whimsical yet ominous tale about bananafish-creatures that gorge themselves on bananas until they can no longer escape their hole, dying of “banana fever.” This parable becomes the story’s central symbol, interpreted as a metaphor for spiritual and emotional excess, greed, and entrapment.
Salinger’s critique of post-war America is embodied in Seymour’s profound sensitivity and spiritual dislocation. The adults around him, particularly Muriel and her mother, fail to understand his trauma, treating him as either a burden or a curiosity. Seymour’s only meaningful connection is with Sybil, whose childlike purity he yearns to reclaim. Yet even this innocence is tinged with complexity-Sybil displays jealousy, and Seymour’s kiss on her foot introduces a disturbing ambiguity that blurs the line between childlike affection and adult impulse.
The symbolic weight of Seymour’s last name, “Glass,” suggests transparency and fragility. As “see-more” Glass, Seymour perceives the emptiness of the world with painful clarity. His invisible tattoo- mentioned in passing by Muriel- further symbolizes the hidden psychological scars of war, unseen yet deeply etched into his psyche.
Seymour’s character is a poignant portrayal of what we now recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His emotional volatility and social withdrawal reflect the profound dissonance between his wartime experiences and the trivialities of civilian life. Salinger’s minimalist style, leaving much unsaid, mirrors the fractured nature of Seymour’s reality and the difficulty of genuine communication.
Ultimately, Seymour’s suicide is not merely an act of despair but a final, irreversible escape from a world that no longer accommodates his sensitivity or his search for meaning. The Florida resort, with its stark contrast between the suffocating hotel room and the open beach, underscores the chasm between external appearances and internal anguish.
Through Seymour Glass, Salinger crafts a character whose tragic end forces readers to confront the cost of emotional depth in a world obsessed with surfaces. The story’s subtlety and symbolism invite reflection long after its final line, making it a cornerstone of modern American literature.
November 6, 2020
J. D. Salinger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish was first published in The New Yorker magazine in 1948. It is a beautifully written short story that contrasts between the mundane, normal world we all take for granted and what appears to be the world of a disturbed and broken, gentle spirit, Seymour, a war veteran possibly suffering from PTSD. We learn early on, in a telephone conversation between Seymour’s young wife, Muriel Glass, and her mother, that Seymour’s behavior is troubled/troubling and that he may pose a danger to Muriel, to himself and to others. They are on vacation at a hotel by the sea and her mother entreats her to come home (and to leave Seymour).
The seed, once having been planted, immediately strikes a note of nervous tension and sense of impending danger, especially in his interaction with Sybil, a small child he befriends. She may be his young niece/friend/acquaintance? I haven’t read Salinger in about 40 years but I remember that some of his characters turn up in more than one story, and Seymour clearly already knows Sybil when she approaches him.
Sybil and Seymour enjoy a sweet conversation, about her friend Sharon Lipschutz, about bananafish and the color of bathing suits. When she asks about his wife (the Lady) he replies, "That's hard to say, Sybil. She may be in any one of a thousand places. At the hairdresser's. Having her hair dyed mink. Or making dolls for poor children, in her room…Ask me something else, Sybil". Seymour clearly does not want to be brought back to the here and now. Sybil asks to go into the water with Seymour and he plops her onto his blow-up pool mattress and takes her into the sea – his amusingly charming banter of storybooks, chewing wax, dogs and, of course, banana fish, is sweet and full of silly fantasy and innocence (still water runs deep), contrasting sharply with the conversation between Muriel and her mother earlier in the story.
I could not help but keep a vigilant eye on Sybil as Seymour wades in water up to his chest, pushing a nervous Sybil into the waves, grabbing her ankles only after my worst fears begin to surface. There is a sense of danger (from the sea? from Seymour?). I sighed in relief as Seymour safely returned Sybil to the shore, whereupon Sybil runs off in the direction of her family and he to the hotel beach entrance. The preoccupation with Sybil’s ankles and later when Seymour kisses the arch of her foot, made me uncomfortable and anxious on her behalf. Feet and ankles are mentioned several times in this scant seven-page story. Also, riding up in the elevator to his room, he has an unbalancing confrontation with an innocent fellow passenger, who quickly exits the car after Seymour remonstrates her for looking at his feet. Feet and ankles appear to be a trigger for Seymour, and he is clearly emotionally disturbed by the time he gets back to his room, where he finds his wife napping. The menacing atmosphere of the disturbing elevator scene foreshadows a final depressing episode in the tragic life of Seymour.
I have read that Salinger served in Normandy during World War II and bore witness to the concentration camps. I think you can sense in this story how the experience must have affected him. I was so young when I read most, if not all, of Salinger’s books, and after rereading this story, I think now would be a good time for me to revisit the body of his work.
Salinger’s books and stories are available in the library, but, I found this story free and immediately available online at the following site: https://foresthillshs.enschool.org/ou...
The seed, once having been planted, immediately strikes a note of nervous tension and sense of impending danger, especially in his interaction with Sybil, a small child he befriends. She may be his young niece/friend/acquaintance? I haven’t read Salinger in about 40 years but I remember that some of his characters turn up in more than one story, and Seymour clearly already knows Sybil when she approaches him.
Sybil and Seymour enjoy a sweet conversation, about her friend Sharon Lipschutz, about bananafish and the color of bathing suits. When she asks about his wife (the Lady) he replies, "That's hard to say, Sybil. She may be in any one of a thousand places. At the hairdresser's. Having her hair dyed mink. Or making dolls for poor children, in her room…Ask me something else, Sybil". Seymour clearly does not want to be brought back to the here and now. Sybil asks to go into the water with Seymour and he plops her onto his blow-up pool mattress and takes her into the sea – his amusingly charming banter of storybooks, chewing wax, dogs and, of course, banana fish, is sweet and full of silly fantasy and innocence (still water runs deep), contrasting sharply with the conversation between Muriel and her mother earlier in the story.
I could not help but keep a vigilant eye on Sybil as Seymour wades in water up to his chest, pushing a nervous Sybil into the waves, grabbing her ankles only after my worst fears begin to surface. There is a sense of danger (from the sea? from Seymour?). I sighed in relief as Seymour safely returned Sybil to the shore, whereupon Sybil runs off in the direction of her family and he to the hotel beach entrance. The preoccupation with Sybil’s ankles and later when Seymour kisses the arch of her foot, made me uncomfortable and anxious on her behalf. Feet and ankles are mentioned several times in this scant seven-page story. Also, riding up in the elevator to his room, he has an unbalancing confrontation with an innocent fellow passenger, who quickly exits the car after Seymour remonstrates her for looking at his feet. Feet and ankles appear to be a trigger for Seymour, and he is clearly emotionally disturbed by the time he gets back to his room, where he finds his wife napping. The menacing atmosphere of the disturbing elevator scene foreshadows a final depressing episode in the tragic life of Seymour.
I have read that Salinger served in Normandy during World War II and bore witness to the concentration camps. I think you can sense in this story how the experience must have affected him. I was so young when I read most, if not all, of Salinger’s books, and after rereading this story, I think now would be a good time for me to revisit the body of his work.
Salinger’s books and stories are available in the library, but, I found this story free and immediately available online at the following site: https://foresthillshs.enschool.org/ou...
March 14, 2019
Stunning piece of writing. Read this on it's own before later reading as part of 'Nine Stories' which I reviewed. This short story was the opening story featured in Nine Stories, but first appeared in the January 1948 issue of the New Yorker. It's arguably his best short story and the one that bought him critical acclaim. It was also the first time Salinger used the character of Seymour Glass (he would go on to chronicle the Glass family siblings in later stories). Using great dialog to set the scene the story opens in a hotel in Florida before moving to the beach as Salinger presents brief facts on the characters and describes a series of events, but it's then over to reader to try and fill in the blanks, and work out whats going on. Obviously for those who haven't read it, I'm not going to give away the main event surrounding the story, and will just say that Salinger's story works as a sort of metaphor for the immediate years in American following WW2 where consumer society seems to be taking over. It's a story that seriously stays with you, which is remarkable really considering it's short. I have loved the short stories of Cheever, Yates, and Carver. Salinger here is equally as good.
June 21, 2010
“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” appeared in the New Yorker in 1948 and was later republished as the opening story in the collection Nine Stories(1953). In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Salinger introduces the Glass family, who would become recurring characters in his fiction. In the next ten years, Salinger published three other Glass family stories in the New Yorker: “Franny,” “Zooey,” and “Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters.” These stories appear in Salinger’s other books, which include Franny and Zooey (1961) and Raise the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Critics revered Nine Stories, but Salinger’s other works were not so well received. The siblings of the Glass family were criticized for being unkind and obnoxious.
Salinger’s first novel, Catcher in the Rye (1951), was the critical and popular success that launched Salinger into both literary fame and social scandal. Catcher quickly became an American classic, and its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, became the voice of a generation that was coming of age in the postwar era. After the popular success and controversy of Catcherand the criticism of his subsequent works, Salinger isolated himself from the world, publishing little and maintaining a private life.
Salinger wrote “Bananafish” in postwar America, when many veterans of World War II were struggling with the readjustment to civilian life. The story includes many of the elements that Salinger revisits throughout his career, including the idea of the outsider, male angst, critique of New York society, contempt for materialism, and the redemptive nature of children. Seymour Glass, like many of Salinger’s other protagonists, is an unhappy outsider, critiquing the society of which he is part. Salinger’s heroes are most like him in this regard—outsiders who are dissatisfied with society and therefore remove themselves from it by either self-seclusion (like Salinger himself) or suicide.
Muriel Glass waits in her Florida hotel room for the operator to put her call through to her mother. The hotel is full for a sales convention, so she must wait a long time. She fixes her clothing, paints her nails, and reads a magazine. When the call does go through, Muriel reassures her anxious mother about her safety. Her mother is concerned about the erratic, reckless behavior of Seymour, Muriel’s husband. She hints at a car accident that Seymour and Muriel were involved in and suggests that Seymour deliberately crashed Muriel’s father’s car into a tree. She reminds Muriel of the strange and rude things Seymour has said to members of Muriel’s family. Seymour has recently returned from the war, and Muriel’s mother believes that he was discharged from the military hospital prematurely. Muriel is not as concerned as her mother. She is preoccupied by the fashion at the resort and the evening’s events. In the evenings, there are formal dinners and cocktail parties, at which Seymour often sits apart, playing the piano. The resort is full of society people, although Muriel feels that the quality of these people has diminished since the war. She tells her mother that Seymour is on the beach by himself.
Throughout “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” characters struggle to communicate with one another, and each attempt is fraught with difficulty. Muriel and her mother engage in a haphazard conversation in which Muriel never really hears her mother’s worries and Muriel’s mother never really hears Muriel’s reassurances that she is fine. The two women talk at rather than with each other, and neither woman succeeds in truly communicating her thoughts to the other. When Muriel attempts to talk with the psychiatrist at the resort, their communication is hindered by the noise around them. Seymour is entirely unable to communicate with other people at the resort, preferring to sit alone playing the piano or spend time at the beach rather than try to enter into a society in which he feels like an outsider. Sybil’s mother fails to communicate with Sybil clearly, believing that Sybil says “see more glass” when she is actually talking about Seymour Glass. Only Sybil and Seymour seem able to communicate effectively, although their discourse is on a child’s, not an adult’s, level.
Though Muriel and Seymour do not speak with each other in the story, their communication is so fraught as to be nonexistent. Muriel has no idea what is really going on in Seymour’s mind, and Seymour seemingly has no desire to explain to her how he feels. The most tragic lack of communication is Muriel’s mistaken certainty that Seymour’s mental health is fine. Seymour’s violent suicide is, perhaps, the one truly successful act of adult communication in the story, the one gesture that cannot be misread or ignored.
The idea of seeing permeates “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” Seymour’s name sounds like “see more,” a confusion that Sybil’s mother falls prey to when Sybil talks to her about “see more glass.” Sybil’s name also references seeing; in Greek mythology, a sibyl was a seer. Seymour, or “see more,” suggests that Seymour is literally able to see more than other people. Because of his traumatic experiences in the war, he has a greater understanding of life and can recognize the materialism and superficiality of the world around him. Like Seymour, Sybil can see what others cannot, though her openness is a function of her childishness rather than of trauma and regret. She easily sees the imaginary bananafish that Seymour tells her about and is therefore able to “see” Seymour in a way the adults in his life cannot.
Salinger’s first novel, Catcher in the Rye (1951), was the critical and popular success that launched Salinger into both literary fame and social scandal. Catcher quickly became an American classic, and its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, became the voice of a generation that was coming of age in the postwar era. After the popular success and controversy of Catcherand the criticism of his subsequent works, Salinger isolated himself from the world, publishing little and maintaining a private life.
Salinger wrote “Bananafish” in postwar America, when many veterans of World War II were struggling with the readjustment to civilian life. The story includes many of the elements that Salinger revisits throughout his career, including the idea of the outsider, male angst, critique of New York society, contempt for materialism, and the redemptive nature of children. Seymour Glass, like many of Salinger’s other protagonists, is an unhappy outsider, critiquing the society of which he is part. Salinger’s heroes are most like him in this regard—outsiders who are dissatisfied with society and therefore remove themselves from it by either self-seclusion (like Salinger himself) or suicide.
Muriel Glass waits in her Florida hotel room for the operator to put her call through to her mother. The hotel is full for a sales convention, so she must wait a long time. She fixes her clothing, paints her nails, and reads a magazine. When the call does go through, Muriel reassures her anxious mother about her safety. Her mother is concerned about the erratic, reckless behavior of Seymour, Muriel’s husband. She hints at a car accident that Seymour and Muriel were involved in and suggests that Seymour deliberately crashed Muriel’s father’s car into a tree. She reminds Muriel of the strange and rude things Seymour has said to members of Muriel’s family. Seymour has recently returned from the war, and Muriel’s mother believes that he was discharged from the military hospital prematurely. Muriel is not as concerned as her mother. She is preoccupied by the fashion at the resort and the evening’s events. In the evenings, there are formal dinners and cocktail parties, at which Seymour often sits apart, playing the piano. The resort is full of society people, although Muriel feels that the quality of these people has diminished since the war. She tells her mother that Seymour is on the beach by himself.
Throughout “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” characters struggle to communicate with one another, and each attempt is fraught with difficulty. Muriel and her mother engage in a haphazard conversation in which Muriel never really hears her mother’s worries and Muriel’s mother never really hears Muriel’s reassurances that she is fine. The two women talk at rather than with each other, and neither woman succeeds in truly communicating her thoughts to the other. When Muriel attempts to talk with the psychiatrist at the resort, their communication is hindered by the noise around them. Seymour is entirely unable to communicate with other people at the resort, preferring to sit alone playing the piano or spend time at the beach rather than try to enter into a society in which he feels like an outsider. Sybil’s mother fails to communicate with Sybil clearly, believing that Sybil says “see more glass” when she is actually talking about Seymour Glass. Only Sybil and Seymour seem able to communicate effectively, although their discourse is on a child’s, not an adult’s, level.
Though Muriel and Seymour do not speak with each other in the story, their communication is so fraught as to be nonexistent. Muriel has no idea what is really going on in Seymour’s mind, and Seymour seemingly has no desire to explain to her how he feels. The most tragic lack of communication is Muriel’s mistaken certainty that Seymour’s mental health is fine. Seymour’s violent suicide is, perhaps, the one truly successful act of adult communication in the story, the one gesture that cannot be misread or ignored.
The idea of seeing permeates “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” Seymour’s name sounds like “see more,” a confusion that Sybil’s mother falls prey to when Sybil talks to her about “see more glass.” Sybil’s name also references seeing; in Greek mythology, a sibyl was a seer. Seymour, or “see more,” suggests that Seymour is literally able to see more than other people. Because of his traumatic experiences in the war, he has a greater understanding of life and can recognize the materialism and superficiality of the world around him. Like Seymour, Sybil can see what others cannot, though her openness is a function of her childishness rather than of trauma and regret. She easily sees the imaginary bananafish that Seymour tells her about and is therefore able to “see” Seymour in a way the adults in his life cannot.
June 13, 2014
"I see you're looking at my feet," he said to her when the car was in motion.
"I beg your pardon?" said the woman.
"I said I see you're looking at my feet."
"I beg your pardon. I happened to be looking at the floor," said the woman, and faced the doors of the car."
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" contrasts the world of children, imaginative, curious, pure, and innocent with the world of adults materialistic, selfish, shallow. As you can see, the story glorifies children and to some degree condemns the attitude of most adults. It even explores the idea that children are somehow more spiritually advanced than adults, more capable of seeing with the soul rather than the eyes.
It features a young man who has returned from his service in World War II and is experiencing what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder. Back in the 1940s, however, this term hadn't even been coined, and people were far less informed about this sort of mental illness. The protagonist, then, is highly misunderstood by the adults around him, so he instead seeks refuge in the world of children, where his "madness" amounts to little more than joking banter. The story makes us wonder what really counts as "insane," even calling into question the "normal" conversations between "sane" adults.
Salinger wrote "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" when he was highly interested in Zen Buddhism. The epigraph to this story's collection suggests that we approach each tale as though it were a Zen kōan, a riddle with no logical answer. "Bananafish" in many ways rejects logical knowledge in favor of spiritual wisdom. It also condemns materialism as a great danger to the soul's well-being.
This story explores the isolating effects of mental illness. Seymour Glass, a troubled young man just back from service in World War II, has difficulty adjusting to being home, no doubt as a result of his experiences in the war. In some ways Seymour self-isolates, but in other ways he is alienated by "normal" society that doesn't understand his mental condition. This isolation is physical, mental, and spiritual – Seymour finds himself "alone" in more ways than one.
In "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," sex is one of the material pursuits that poses a threat to the well-being of the soul. In the Zen spirit of this work, physical pleasures have no real value and only distract us from pursuing that which really matters. Most of the story's commentary on sex lies between the lines, or can be inferred from reading some of Salinger's other works on the same characters.
"I beg your pardon?" said the woman.
"I said I see you're looking at my feet."
"I beg your pardon. I happened to be looking at the floor," said the woman, and faced the doors of the car."
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" contrasts the world of children, imaginative, curious, pure, and innocent with the world of adults materialistic, selfish, shallow. As you can see, the story glorifies children and to some degree condemns the attitude of most adults. It even explores the idea that children are somehow more spiritually advanced than adults, more capable of seeing with the soul rather than the eyes.
It features a young man who has returned from his service in World War II and is experiencing what today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder. Back in the 1940s, however, this term hadn't even been coined, and people were far less informed about this sort of mental illness. The protagonist, then, is highly misunderstood by the adults around him, so he instead seeks refuge in the world of children, where his "madness" amounts to little more than joking banter. The story makes us wonder what really counts as "insane," even calling into question the "normal" conversations between "sane" adults.
Salinger wrote "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" when he was highly interested in Zen Buddhism. The epigraph to this story's collection suggests that we approach each tale as though it were a Zen kōan, a riddle with no logical answer. "Bananafish" in many ways rejects logical knowledge in favor of spiritual wisdom. It also condemns materialism as a great danger to the soul's well-being.
This story explores the isolating effects of mental illness. Seymour Glass, a troubled young man just back from service in World War II, has difficulty adjusting to being home, no doubt as a result of his experiences in the war. In some ways Seymour self-isolates, but in other ways he is alienated by "normal" society that doesn't understand his mental condition. This isolation is physical, mental, and spiritual – Seymour finds himself "alone" in more ways than one.
In "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," sex is one of the material pursuits that poses a threat to the well-being of the soul. In the Zen spirit of this work, physical pleasures have no real value and only distract us from pursuing that which really matters. Most of the story's commentary on sex lies between the lines, or can be inferred from reading some of Salinger's other works on the same characters.
March 30, 2024
“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is a glimpse into the fractured psyche of Seymour Glass, a war veteran clinging to the tattered remnants of sanity amidst a Florida vacation gone terribly wrong. We meet Seymour through the worried eyes of his young wife, Muriel. Salinger masterfully employs a deceptively simple narrative. The disjointed conversations, punctuated by long, pregnant silences, paint a picture of a man adrift, haunted by unseen battles. Salinger’s genius lies in his masterful use of dialogue, where subtext screams louder than words. We witness conversations, mundane yet laced with tension, hinting at a darkness lurking beneath the surface. Seymour’s memories of war, fragmented and nightmarish, offer a glimpse of the trauma that has shattered him. His attempts to reconnect with the world, with Muriel, with himself, are ultimately futile. His fascination with the suicidal nature of bananafish – creatures trapped in a cycle of self-destruction – becomes a haunting metaphor for his own state.
The story unfolds like a slow-motion train wreck, hurtling towards a devastating climax. It’s a testament to Salinger’s skill that the ending, while shocking, feels inevitable.
This short story about war trauma is a gut-punch, a lament for the loss of innocence, a poignant exploration of a mind teetering on the edge.
https://whispersfromthebookshelf.com/...
The story unfolds like a slow-motion train wreck, hurtling towards a devastating climax. It’s a testament to Salinger’s skill that the ending, while shocking, feels inevitable.
This short story about war trauma is a gut-punch, a lament for the loss of innocence, a poignant exploration of a mind teetering on the edge.
https://whispersfromthebookshelf.com/...
March 15, 2022
The human mind is like a sponge, absorbing all sorts of events that it is exposed to, and these events shape our perception and behaviour, and if these events are traumatic,
our minds are unfortunately distorted, twisted into deranged chambers the soul is trapped in, unable to find a way out from the sadness and grief and fear entrenched so deeply within.
In these situations, the seemingly only way out is death.
This short story by J.D. Salinger explores a portion of a day in the life of a man who is suffering from PTSD after war. It starts with his wife's perspective, who is on a phone call, listening to her mother warn her about the mental instability of her husband. We then shift point of views and meet this man, and are unable to guess what his next move will be, and who he will be harming on his way to the point of no return.
This story, despite being sad, is written in a surprisingly light tone, and the reader will be caught off guard when the dark subject matter finally hits. Despite the depth of the story, this didn't really do much for me personally, and my 2-star rating is an "it was ok", since it isn't memorable enough to be more. I still recommend it to people who would enjoy delving into this subject matter more and seeing a short glimpse of life through the lens of a former soldier with PTSD.
"Here comes a wave," Sybil said nervously.
"We'll ignore it. We'll snub it," said the young man. "Two snobs.”
This short story by J.D. Salinger explores a portion of a day in the life of a man who is suffering from PTSD after war. It starts with his wife's perspective, who is on a phone call, listening to her mother warn her about the mental instability of her husband. We then shift point of views and meet this man, and are unable to guess what his next move will be, and who he will be harming on his way to the point of no return.
This story, despite being sad, is written in a surprisingly light tone, and the reader will be caught off guard when the dark subject matter finally hits. Despite the depth of the story, this didn't really do much for me personally, and my 2-star rating is an "it was ok", since it isn't memorable enough to be more. I still recommend it to people who would enjoy delving into this subject matter more and seeing a short glimpse of life through the lens of a former soldier with PTSD.
"Here comes a wave," Sybil said nervously.
"We'll ignore it. We'll snub it," said the young man. "Two snobs.”
September 2, 2021
بعد از دیدن چند قسمت از انیمهی بنانافیش کنجکاو شدم ببینم سالینجر از بنانافیش چی نوشته. خوشبختانه شباهتی به اون انیمه نداشت، و داستانش جالب بود. کوتاهه، ارزش یک بار خوندن داره.
August 1, 2015
خمس قصص غير كافية للحكم على تجربة الكابة القصصية عند سالنجر، لكنها كافية للتعرف على أسلوبه الذي وجدت فيه اهتمامه بالتفاصيل الوصفية والحوارات في الوقت نفسه. لاحظت أيضا اهتمامه بنهايات قصصه التي جاء بعضها صادماً وبعضها مفتوحاً.
القصة الأولى في المجموعة كانت الأجمل والأميز في رأيي. الترجمة بشكل عام كانت جميلة. أنصح بقراءة المجموعة لمن لديه رغبة في التعرف على إنتاج هذا الكاتب الذي أثار الضجة بروايته الوحيدة وقصصه القليلةالتي نشرها في حياته، وعزلته التي اختارها للكتابه حتى وفاته، ووصيته بنشر أعماله بعد وفاته بدءاً من هذه السنة.
القصة الأولى في المجموعة كانت الأجمل والأميز في رأيي. الترجمة بشكل عام كانت جميلة. أنصح بقراءة المجموعة لمن لديه رغبة في التعرف على إنتاج هذا الكاتب الذي أثار الضجة بروايته الوحيدة وقصصه القليلةالتي نشرها في حياته، وعزلته التي اختارها للكتابه حتى وفاته، ووصيته بنشر أعماله بعد وفاته بدءاً من هذه السنة.
December 7, 2014
I remember the day I read this book. It was hot outside and I was at achool and out teacher made us read an excerpt. I've never really liked books that I was forced to read but this one reached out to me so when I got home I got on the computer, found a copy and read it.
It made me think, and that's what I love about literature.
The main is complex and the whole thing is so sad. I LOVE IT.
If you're debating reading this, trust me, you should.
It made me think, and that's what I love about literature.
The main is complex and the whole thing is so sad. I LOVE IT.
If you're debating reading this, trust me, you should.
August 16, 2023
بیست دقیقه خود داستان رو میخونی، دو ساعتِ بعدش رو به دیوار خیره میشی و تا دو سال بعد ذهنت درگیر یه داستان هفتصفحهای و سیمور گلسی میمونه که تشنهی پاکی و خیالبافی بچّههاست و پای یه دختربچّه رو میبوسه چون تونسته توی دریا یه موزماهی ببینه. :)
Seymour Glass,
See more glass!
Seymour Glass,
See more glass!
May 9, 2025
An unsettling combination of ominous foreboding, trauma, anxiety, innocence — and a shocking conclusion.
Did I ever read this before? I can't remember, but this was a powerful story, abrupt and brutal, illustrating the lingering horrors of war.
Did I ever read this before? I can't remember, but this was a powerful story, abrupt and brutal, illustrating the lingering horrors of war.
November 22, 2016
THE protagonist Seymour Glass has been scarred from his experiences in World War II and is suffering from psychological distress. He is a total misfit in a world that seems to be guided by greed and materialism. He has no real outlet for the complicated and bottled-up emotions he carries inside him. He is certainly not getting the tender loving care he needs as he has been released early from the Army hospital.
Seymour shuns the pretentious world of adults and seeks refuge in children. He seems to share a much better rapport with the latter than he does with his wife Muriel who is extremely materialistic. She reads cheap women magazines while he reads poetry. She is more concerned with the latest fashion fads than with her husband’s emotional and psychological problems. He prefers playing the piano in the hotel lounge and lying alone on the beach than being in her company. All her materialism probably repulses him.
Communicating with children, especially Sybil, provides Seymour succour from the shellshock he has suffered during war. His imagination is at its best when he tells her a story about bananafish and how they keep gobbling fish until they bloat up to get stuck in doorways.
Seymour’s bananafish could also be an allusion to the snobbish class which is a slave to capitalism and goes on spending sprees, ending up with hoarding things they don’t really need. Their greed devours them.
The ending which takes place in the hotel bedroom is bound to take you by surprise like it did me. Muriel is sleeping on the bed. He takes out an Ortgies calibre 7.65 automatic, aims the pistol and fires a bullet. But does he aerial fire to scare her? Or does he shoot himself in the mirror sending shards flying all across the room? Or does he open fire on the bedroom’s window pane, shattering it entirely with the pieces falling five floors down?
This is one of J. D. Salinger’s best short stories if not the best. Read and treat yourself to some classy entertainment.
Seymour shuns the pretentious world of adults and seeks refuge in children. He seems to share a much better rapport with the latter than he does with his wife Muriel who is extremely materialistic. She reads cheap women magazines while he reads poetry. She is more concerned with the latest fashion fads than with her husband’s emotional and psychological problems. He prefers playing the piano in the hotel lounge and lying alone on the beach than being in her company. All her materialism probably repulses him.
Communicating with children, especially Sybil, provides Seymour succour from the shellshock he has suffered during war. His imagination is at its best when he tells her a story about bananafish and how they keep gobbling fish until they bloat up to get stuck in doorways.
Seymour’s bananafish could also be an allusion to the snobbish class which is a slave to capitalism and goes on spending sprees, ending up with hoarding things they don’t really need. Their greed devours them.
The ending which takes place in the hotel bedroom is bound to take you by surprise like it did me. Muriel is sleeping on the bed. He takes out an Ortgies calibre 7.65 automatic, aims the pistol and fires a bullet. But does he aerial fire to scare her? Or does he shoot himself in the mirror sending shards flying all across the room? Or does he open fire on the bedroom’s window pane, shattering it entirely with the pieces falling five floors down?
This is one of J. D. Salinger’s best short stories if not the best. Read and treat yourself to some classy entertainment.
July 30, 2023
Review Of A Perfect Day for Bananafish – J. D. Salinger
This is a review of a short story by j. D. Salinger. It involves a member of the Glass family, namely Seymour Glass. The Glass family appears in more than one SS that Salinger wrote.
Published in 1948, it tells the story of military veteran Seymour, his totally self-centered wife Muriel and her equally self-centered mother, Mrs. Carpenter. Muriel and Seymour are on vacation in Florida. Mrs. Carpenter is worried seemingly about Seymour’s mental state since he came home from the war. Several events of alarm are either told or eluded to by Mrs. Carpenter. She urges her daughter to come home to New York and leave her husband behind. She is concerned for her safety. While Muriel is talking with her mother on the phone, it’s apparent that she’s sees no danger in Seymour’s behavior. Seymour, meanwhile, is lying in a tightly wrapped beach robe by the ocean.
Seymour thinks of himself as being somewhat of an outcast. He makes only two friends at the resort and they are both children.
Now, let me get this straight with everyone right now. SEYMOUR IS NOT A PEDOPHILE. His interaction with the child, Sybil Carpenter, is one of respect. There’s also another child mentioned who Sybil is apparently jealous of and resents any attention that Seymour pays her.
I’m going to stop here and not revealwhat transpires when Seymour says goodbye on the beach to Sybil and makes his way back to his hotel room where he finds Muriel asleep.
This story can be interpreted so many different ways. Salinger was a recluse in his later years. I have to wonder if his experiences during the war colored Seymour’s problems.
This Short Story is the first one featured in the anthology, Nine Stories.
This is a review of a short story by j. D. Salinger. It involves a member of the Glass family, namely Seymour Glass. The Glass family appears in more than one SS that Salinger wrote.
Published in 1948, it tells the story of military veteran Seymour, his totally self-centered wife Muriel and her equally self-centered mother, Mrs. Carpenter. Muriel and Seymour are on vacation in Florida. Mrs. Carpenter is worried seemingly about Seymour’s mental state since he came home from the war. Several events of alarm are either told or eluded to by Mrs. Carpenter. She urges her daughter to come home to New York and leave her husband behind. She is concerned for her safety. While Muriel is talking with her mother on the phone, it’s apparent that she’s sees no danger in Seymour’s behavior. Seymour, meanwhile, is lying in a tightly wrapped beach robe by the ocean.
Seymour thinks of himself as being somewhat of an outcast. He makes only two friends at the resort and they are both children.
Now, let me get this straight with everyone right now. SEYMOUR IS NOT A PEDOPHILE. His interaction with the child, Sybil Carpenter, is one of respect. There’s also another child mentioned who Sybil is apparently jealous of and resents any attention that Seymour pays her.
I’m going to stop here and not revealwhat transpires when Seymour says goodbye on the beach to Sybil and makes his way back to his hotel room where he finds Muriel asleep.
This story can be interpreted so many different ways. Salinger was a recluse in his later years. I have to wonder if his experiences during the war colored Seymour’s problems.
This Short Story is the first one featured in the anthology, Nine Stories.
Read
August 14, 2018Full disclosure: I’ve read this story because I’m watching Banana Fish anime and I need to know the connection between the anime and this short story.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish is masterfully written. I’m in awe how much information Salinger managed to include into 20 page story without directly talking about these topics. The story is concise and impactful.
Originally, it was published in 1949. The story is about a young man who fought in World War II and now he’s on a vacation with his wife.
I’m oversimplifying.
Let’s try again.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a story about people, who saw too much, who survived so much pain, are unable to move past those events. They are not able to “come back”. The bananafish metaphor is simple yet effective.
Thus being said, I’ve read this short story because I’m watching the anime. Both of them address topics like PTSD, trauma and outcomes of war, etc... now I’m even more worried about the direction Banana Fish anime might take. (I haven’t read the manga so I don’t know.)
Anyways, A Perfect Day for Bananafish hides an emotional and impactful punch under disguise of mundane and simple, leaving the reader breadcrumbs to figure out what happened and why. I loved it.
This short story is generally included in Nine Stories collection, if you want to read it.
I have read it translated into Russian by R. Rait-Kovaleva (Р. Райт-Ковалёва), in the collection of short stories published in 2010 by Eksmo.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish is masterfully written. I’m in awe how much information Salinger managed to include into 20 page story without directly talking about these topics. The story is concise and impactful.
Originally, it was published in 1949. The story is about a young man who fought in World War II and now he’s on a vacation with his wife.
I’m oversimplifying.
Let’s try again.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a story about people, who saw too much, who survived so much pain, are unable to move past those events. They are not able to “come back”. The bananafish metaphor is simple yet effective.
Thus being said, I’ve read this short story because I’m watching the anime. Both of them address topics like PTSD, trauma and outcomes of war, etc... now I’m even more worried about the direction Banana Fish anime might take. (I haven’t read the manga so I don’t know.)
Anyways, A Perfect Day for Bananafish hides an emotional and impactful punch under disguise of mundane and simple, leaving the reader breadcrumbs to figure out what happened and why. I loved it.
This short story is generally included in Nine Stories collection, if you want to read it.
I have read it translated into Russian by R. Rait-Kovaleva (Р. Райт-Ковалёва), in the collection of short stories published in 2010 by Eksmo.
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September 23, 2023An insight that is amazingly close to that of Hemingway, in his " The Sun Also Rises ".
The only difference would be....everything.
Oh, Seymour, we could have had such a damned good time together..
[..Yes, isn't pretty to think so ? ..]
A pleasant book, only good to read while waiting at the airport.
The only difference would be....everything.
Oh, Seymour, we could have had such a damned good time together..
[..Yes, isn't pretty to think so ? ..]
A pleasant book, only good to read while waiting at the airport.
November 15, 2020
Wonderfully descriptive! This short story is a real roller coaster ride of emotions, from concern and anxiety, to idle banter, fun fantasy, to confusion to tragedy, and it is completed with beautiful descriptions that let you feel each intense emotion.
March 17, 2012
The road leading to suicide is filled with deepest darkest despair, with a couple of stuffed dogs strewn along the curb maybe, but the final act is performed in a moment of clarity. In sun-kissed primary colours.
June 7, 2015
fucking shit, now it makes sense
damn
damn
November 8, 2014
A Perfect Day for Bananafish. What a whimsical name for such a serious story.
I will be honest, the first pass through this story led me to believe that Seymour was sexually interested in children and as a result decided to kill himself. There were several things that led me to believe that. For one, his interaction with Sybil is definitely flirtatious - he comments on her swimsuit, he asks her to "come closer," tells her she is looking "fine," is constantly touching her feet, the "memory and desire" comment about Sharon Lipschutz, he even asks Sybil what her sign is...literally everything about their interaction led me to believe that Sybil was a girl he was advancing on, not a young child playing on the beach. Her age or even stature isn't mentioned. The only reason you even know Sybil is a young girl is because she uses words like "nairiplane" and talks about tigers from a storybook.
Once they both get into the water and Sybil is vulnerably on a raft controlled by Seymour, I felt a definite tension build in the story. Is Seymour going to drown her...or worse? You can even sense it in Sybil's voice: "Not too far out." The tension stops once Seymour takes her back to shore. I saw this little venture as a way Seymour was testing himself. Was he really a pedophile? I think he realized he really was.
I honestly don't have a problem with Seymour being a pedophile. I feel bad for him, just as he did. His future was bleak and isolating, filled with unsatisfying sexual experiences. There was no way he could be true to himself with out hurting others and facing extreme social ridicule. So he offed himself.
That is MY interpretation of the story. I understand how there can be other interpretations that focus on Seymour's preoccupation with the innocence of childhood and this ideal version of what it means to be a child: untainted and virginal. I can see that too, but I do think it ignores the implied sexual nuances of the story.
I will be honest, the first pass through this story led me to believe that Seymour was sexually interested in children and as a result decided to kill himself. There were several things that led me to believe that. For one, his interaction with Sybil is definitely flirtatious - he comments on her swimsuit, he asks her to "come closer," tells her she is looking "fine," is constantly touching her feet, the "memory and desire" comment about Sharon Lipschutz, he even asks Sybil what her sign is...literally everything about their interaction led me to believe that Sybil was a girl he was advancing on, not a young child playing on the beach. Her age or even stature isn't mentioned. The only reason you even know Sybil is a young girl is because she uses words like "nairiplane" and talks about tigers from a storybook.
Once they both get into the water and Sybil is vulnerably on a raft controlled by Seymour, I felt a definite tension build in the story. Is Seymour going to drown her...or worse? You can even sense it in Sybil's voice: "Not too far out." The tension stops once Seymour takes her back to shore. I saw this little venture as a way Seymour was testing himself. Was he really a pedophile? I think he realized he really was.
I honestly don't have a problem with Seymour being a pedophile. I feel bad for him, just as he did. His future was bleak and isolating, filled with unsatisfying sexual experiences. There was no way he could be true to himself with out hurting others and facing extreme social ridicule. So he offed himself.
That is MY interpretation of the story. I understand how there can be other interpretations that focus on Seymour's preoccupation with the innocence of childhood and this ideal version of what it means to be a child: untainted and virginal. I can see that too, but I do think it ignores the implied sexual nuances of the story.
August 16, 2010
My senior year of high school, I got on a JD Salinger kick and read everything I could find. The Norwegian exchange student that was staying with us and I would sit out on the deck that spring, making ourselves Tom Collins's and reading Salinger. (at least I read Salinger. I don't remember what he read. Do you remember, Thor??)
February 27, 2017
Came across this as a reference in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Like Mr Fikry, I'm also fond of short stories. And Catcher in the Rye was very amusing.... and so decided to give it a go.
Unfortunately I didn't get it :(
Alright, I did enjoy that phone call conversation, the beach, the writing style and all.... believing it is leading somewhere. Was it?
Guess you have to read deep between the lines to know where its headed.... or whether the title makes some sense?
Not for me. This was the first story in Nine Stories and I'm not going to continue it.
Like Mr Fikry, I'm also fond of short stories. And Catcher in the Rye was very amusing.... and so decided to give it a go.
Unfortunately I didn't get it :(
Alright, I did enjoy that phone call conversation, the beach, the writing style and all.... believing it is leading somewhere. Was it?
Guess you have to read deep between the lines to know where its headed.... or whether the title makes some sense?
Not for me. This was the first story in Nine Stories and I'm not going to continue it.
November 11, 2020
My favorite short story, hands-down.
I've probably read this upwards of 5 times, although most of those were for a school project. Phenomenal dialogue, and the ending gives me chills every goddamn time.
I've probably read this upwards of 5 times, although most of those were for a school project. Phenomenal dialogue, and the ending gives me chills every goddamn time.
July 18, 2023
yo fingiendo que no lo leí y le puse cinco estrellas por banana fish
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