Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Comparing stories
The stories A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, and Just Before the War on the Eskimos by J.D. Salinger, all of the main characters undergo some sort of change in attitude or mindset. In Perfect Day for Bananafish, Seymour originally seems content on the beach with Sybil. However, after he leaves the beach and encounters more adults such as the woman in the elevator and Muriel, he obviously is uncomfortable and decides to shoot himself. In Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, Eloise begins the story very comfortable in her own skin as she drinks and has a good time with Mary Jane. However, when she begins to realize the impure person she has become, she begins to cry. She goes through a change in attitude when she discovers that she is not the person she wants to be. In Just Before the War on the Eskimos, Ginnie originally is kind of sour towards Selena, and does not even refer to her as a friend when Eric asks her about Selena. However, after and speaking to Franklin hearing Eric complaining, Ginnie has a transformation where she realized she did not want to be a negative-nelly like Eric. She changes her mood to appreciating Selena and wanting to not hold on to the grudge she had. Between Banana Fish and Uncle Wiggily, there is also a common theme of wanting to preserve innocence and not become a corrupt adult, because both Eloise and Seymour have their own breakdowns because of a realization of their impurity now that they have grown up.
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I agree completely with Bonnie in the sense that the main characters in each of the three stories go through emotional changes from beginning to end. As she mentioned, both Seymour in APDFBF and Eloise in UWIC come to grasp the unfortunate realization that their innocence is long gone. In JBTWOTE, Ginnie realizes how ungreatful she has been acting following her talk with Franklin. This is noticeable towards the end of the story when Ginnie decides to let Selena off the hook. She also asks to hangout with Selena as opposed to her original plan of going to the movies. Ginnie begins to understand how fortunate she is when: 1. Franklin uses toilet paper instead of baind-aids 2. Serena is taking care of her extremely ill mother 3. Realizing that food is always prepared for her when she gets home. Throughout the three short stories, reoccurring events and symbols are also frequent. Cigarettes are consistently brought up, possibly implying self-harm as Shelby pointed out. We certainly see this in APDFBF and UWIC, the characters smoking seeming to be damaged in one way or another (Muriel, Eloise, and Franklin). Legs continue to serve as some type of symbol as well. In APDFBF, Muriel crosses her legs every time Seymour comes up in the conversation with her mother, hinting at how terrible or even disturbing their sex life most likely is. Ginnie also crosses her legs in JBTWWTE when first meeting Selena's brother. Here, it says, "Ginnie guessed it was Selena's brother, whom she had never seen. She crossed her long legs" (Salinger, 62). Considering the fact that the two have never met, Ginnie does not feel comfortable "opening up" to Franklin at this point. However, she soon uncrosses her legs when realizing that Franklin knows her name. Her legs cross again, as she possibly feels threatened as Frank attempts to force his sandwich on her. Opened and closed legs seem to symbolize the feeling of security, or the lack there of, in these two short stories. Legs are even mentioned in UWIC, when describing Eloise it says, "She was stretched out on the couch, her thin but very pretty legs crossed at the ankles" (Salinger, 29). War and the military also contributes to each of the three stories. Centering around the same time period, all are referring to WWII. It is mentioned that Seymour is unstable after returning from the war, Eloise's ex husband was in the force, and Franklin suggests that we are going I to war against the Eskimos. Loosely connected to this reoccurring element is death, which we also see in APDFBF, UWIC, and JBTWWTE.
ReplyDelete(Seymour shoots himself, Walt was killed, and Ginnie mentions how sometimes she feels like "killing" Selena). I almost forgot to make the connection between the two "colored maids" in both UWIC AND JBTWWTE. In both cases, the maids do not seem to be treated well at all. Selena is not on speaking terms with hers, and Ginnie harshly denied Grace's request of allowing her husband to spend the night.
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