"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by JD Salinger
Summary and Theme
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is about a wife, named Muriel, who is married to Seymour. The mother of Muriel, being the overprotective mother that she is (as most mothers are), keeps warning her daughter about how something is wrong with Seymour. Muriel keeps denying it, because she does not think anything is wrong with Seymour. Then the story changes to focusing on Seymour. He is at a beach, and he keeps his robe on, even though he needs a tan. A little girl, named Sybil, comes up to him and asks him about the bananafish they can see in the water. Sybil hangs out with Seymour every day at the beach, but Seymour did not tell Muriel about this. We truly never find out about what is wrong with Seymour, but what happens to him?
There is one prevailing theme in this story. This theme is that one should not do something excessively because it will put them in great danger. This was shown by Seymour killing himself because he thought he was doing something over and over again that he should not be doing. The reader, of course, never finds out about this thing that Seymour kept doing over and over again. The reader only knows that he killed himself because of him explaining how the bananafish dies, which is by it eating a lot of bananas while in a hole, and then being so fat that it cannot fit out of the hole, so it dies. This shows the audience that they cannot continue doing something over and over again, or eating something in excess because it will cause great danger and harm the person. This theme can be seen biblically, too, in 1 Samuel, when Nabal was found drunk and bearing a great feast. He eventually died; biblical references connects to "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in such a way that we find that doing anything in excess is deadly. It makes humans so consumed in their own things, that they forget about the other things in the world. They then find that they have nothing to live for, because they had ignored everyone, and everyone has left them. This makes them feel horrible, so they die.
There is one prevailing theme in this story. This theme is that one should not do something excessively because it will put them in great danger. This was shown by Seymour killing himself because he thought he was doing something over and over again that he should not be doing. The reader, of course, never finds out about this thing that Seymour kept doing over and over again. The reader only knows that he killed himself because of him explaining how the bananafish dies, which is by it eating a lot of bananas while in a hole, and then being so fat that it cannot fit out of the hole, so it dies. This shows the audience that they cannot continue doing something over and over again, or eating something in excess because it will cause great danger and harm the person. This theme can be seen biblically, too, in 1 Samuel, when Nabal was found drunk and bearing a great feast. He eventually died; biblical references connects to "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in such a way that we find that doing anything in excess is deadly. It makes humans so consumed in their own things, that they forget about the other things in the world. They then find that they have nothing to live for, because they had ignored everyone, and everyone has left them. This makes them feel horrible, so they die.
Literary Elements
The two literary elements that have been used are symbolism and suspense. All throughout the story, the reader does not understand what is wrong with Seymour. The mother of Seymour’s wife, in the first part of the story, acts like Seymour has something wrong with him. This keeps the reader asking, “What is wrong with Seymour?” Near the end of the story, the reader learns the significance of the title “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”. The bananafish dies from being a glutton. Seymour believes that he himself is this; however, the reader does not learn that until after he kills himself. The reader understands once they truly analyze the significance of his bananafish reasoning to Sybil.
Critics rave...
Critics love the diction and syntax Salinger uses throughout this story. Marie-Helene Bertino, from www.americanshortfiction.org , compliments his style: "Salinger’s talent for crafting sentences...do not make sense until the last word...No one on earth has his ear for syntax and dialogue."
Critics also adore Salinger's true purpose of his story. Did he write it to entice you in questioning your own definition of crazy? Reviewers of it on www.shmoop.com say, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" does two important things. One, it reminds us that there is more to life than clothes, food, and TV. Number two, it calls into question our definitions of words like "sane" and "crazy." "
Critics also adore Salinger's true purpose of his story. Did he write it to entice you in questioning your own definition of crazy? Reviewers of it on www.shmoop.com say, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" does two important things. One, it reminds us that there is more to life than clothes, food, and TV. Number two, it calls into question our definitions of words like "sane" and "crazy." "
Evaluation
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" grabs the attention to all readers. Even the first line hooks the person, with it ending with the girl not able to get her call through. Throughout the story, there is always an agonizing question that we ask and ask in our mind: "What is wrong with Seymour?" Once we truly find out what is wrong with him, with him abruptly killing himself, we start to have realizations. We start to answer the question on why he killed himself, and once we answer this question, we start thinking on how we can apply it to our everyday lives. Any story that keeps you hooked on it and even applying the thought protruded by the story to your life is truly a good read.
I also love how the story can be related to every day life, as well. Many people tend to take advantage of what they can get. They take it for granted, and do not think anything bad will happen. They act so happy, because other people have to pay for them. They just go through life and act like everything is okay. But, they have not realized that if one keeps using and using, then they will end up in bad shape. If they keep using other people's money, for example, to prosper, not only will they themselves not be able to provide for themselves, the people they borrowed from also will be in bad shape. How will they survive? This makes this person not be able to survive. Now, where will the dependent person go? They will die, because they took advantage of all that money, and obviously did not plan ahead. Now, being the dependent person they are, will not be able to survive on their own. This is why people should start to be independent. They also gain much more pride from this. In today's world, many people are becoming exceedingly dependent, like the bananafish was by eating all the bananas.
I also love how the story can be related to every day life, as well. Many people tend to take advantage of what they can get. They take it for granted, and do not think anything bad will happen. They act so happy, because other people have to pay for them. They just go through life and act like everything is okay. But, they have not realized that if one keeps using and using, then they will end up in bad shape. If they keep using other people's money, for example, to prosper, not only will they themselves not be able to provide for themselves, the people they borrowed from also will be in bad shape. How will they survive? This makes this person not be able to survive. Now, where will the dependent person go? They will die, because they took advantage of all that money, and obviously did not plan ahead. Now, being the dependent person they are, will not be able to survive on their own. This is why people should start to be independent. They also gain much more pride from this. In today's world, many people are becoming exceedingly dependent, like the bananafish was by eating all the bananas.
Readability Level
According to Flesch-Kinkaid level test, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" has a reading level of 2.6. However, if one just reads the story, they will see that this story is extremely thought-provoking and an eight-year-old can not read this. They would not be able to understand it. At the end, the reader must analyze the story to understand why Seymour killed himself. Eight-year-olds should not be reading stories about people killing themselves either. To truly understand the theme of the story, one must be able to process other than what is on the surface in their mind, and most second graders cannot process stories that are thought-provoking.