Perfect Day

The anticipation was killing me. I had been waiting for this day for what seemed like forever, and I was so glad it had finally come. I’d been talking about it all week, and I was starting to annoy people. However, I just couldn’t help it. I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest with all the happiness inside me. I’d been trying not to think about it because it made me anxious. Now that it was time, it was the only thing on my mind. The day started out great just like I’d hoped. The sun was shining a bright yellow, and there was a slight breeze. There were a few puffy white clouds and birds flew through the air, chirping a happy song. It was the perfect weather for a perfect day. I sat on a worn out, defluffed, maroon couch outside watching my younger sister work with the few customers at her garage sale. Occasionally, she would make me get up and help her with some random chore she needed to get done. I didn’t mind it though. It kept me busy until what I knew would make the day even more perfect. The time had finally come, ten minutes later than I’d expected, but it had come. I saw his cute blue ford truck coming down the road. A huge smile instantly came upon my face, and my eyes lit up. As the truck parked along the side of the house, I saw the face I’d been waiting for step out. He was wearing his usual solid…

Images of war lingering in the mind of a soldier from WWII, for one with these thoughts it can be difficult to come back to society and live a normal life. J.D. Salinger writes about a young man by the name of Seymour Glass, who has returned from war and struggles to fit into society. In the short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” Seymour struggles in a life of alienation from society; a corrupt world with the lack of innocence. He tries to find innocence in this life and he holds on…

“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Teddy”: Salinger’s Commentary on the American Society In J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories, featuring “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Teddy”, he skillfully illustrates the societal struggles of materialism and worldliness, and its destructive impact on people’s personal lives. Through his complex characters, Salinger depicts how the American lifestyle erodes the core values of family, as shown in his portrayal of marriage, and the neglect of children.…

In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” J.D. Salinger uses a conglomeration of symbols and motifs to represent Seymour and the materialism and greed of adults in society; Diction and a motif of different colors portray his feelings and emotions which may have led him to take his own life after the war. Seymour comes home from the war and can not merge into society. Salinger uses the bananafish to represent Seymour’s life; Seymour goes to war and the bananafish “swim into a banana hole” (Salinger).…

In J.D. Salinger’s famous short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Seymour Glass returns from war after having experienced atrocities to a wife and a society that are materialistic and unempathetic. He feels lonely and trapped, with a wife invested in only herself and an unempathetic society. Seymour realizes that nobody in his life comprehends his struggles to adjust to a post war America because they are so focused on material objects rather than people. Seymour’s wife Muriel reveals her…

Now death is another predominant theme in Salinger’s works and depending on the stories plot and characters death can play various roles. For instance, in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” death or suicide is Seymour’s character and state of mind. In Seymour’s case death is treated as an escape for him as he cannot function comfortable in his everyday life. Wiegand notes that “Seymour can express himself only to a little girl” and that “the secretly prying eyes of others he is unable to bear”…

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” (Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind) Patrick Rothfuss analyses how childhood innocence and the lack of responsibility can be irresistible. For some, transitioning from the simplicity of youth to the daunting reality of adulthood can be a demanding task. Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye and…

The short stories ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ (1948) and ‘For Esmé—with Love and Squalor’ (1950) present the American writer Jerome David Salinger in his prime. Both short stories are well-acclaimed by critics as well as readers, as they preceded the author’s well-known novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Although the two short stories may not be as famous as the worldwide-known Salinger’s masterpiece is, they both represent him maybe even better than The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden…

“Post-Traumatic Stress Injury isn't a disease. It's a wound to the soul that never heals” Tom Glenn. The short story A Perfect day for Bananafish is a story about a war veteran named Seymour who is having a hard time adjusting to his new normal life. Throughout the story, Seymour does things that show he is struggling with PTSD and the loss of his innocence. We can learn that war can change people and they may never be the same. The story starts out with Muriel on the phone with her mother in…

I have read many short stories in my time. Some of them have well rounded characters, some of them have flat characters. Some characters in narratives are easy to understand, everyone knows everything about them, but, there a few stories where the protagonist is misunderstood. There is one character that sticks out among all of them I know. That character is Seymour Glass, the protagonist in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”. This is also the character I will be focusing on in this essay. We know…