Connections Between the Three Stories

1.) In all three of these stories, there is the reoccurring theme of innocence. Innocence is found in usually the children of these stories. They are still innocent because they have not been corrupted, and in most cases this is because they have not witnessed the horrors of war. In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Sybil represents innocence. She is just six years old and is still pure. This is why Seymour enjoys her presence. He wants to believe that he is still innocent like Sybil. When he is with Sybil, he acts somewhat like a child. On page 21, he talks with Sybil about wax and olives, which seem like very childish, random things to talk about. In Uncle Wiggly in CT, Ramona represents innocence. Eloise at the end of the story realizes how innocent Ramona is and wishes that she could be the same. When Jimmy dies, Ramona quickly moves on to Mickey and there are no issues. She is innocent about it and does not realize how moving on and replacing Jimmy may not have been what most people do. However, Eloise sees this and realizes she did the same thing but she is not innocent like Ramona. She knew what she was doing and this makes her very upset. In the book she says to Mary Jane “ ‘I was a nice girl,’ she pleaded, ‘wasn’t I?’” Eloise knows that she is no longer innocent like Ramona but wants to take comfort in the fact that she once was. Innocence is also present in Just Before the War with the Eskimos. Though it is not as obvious as the previous two stories, Ginnie represents innocence. This is because she has not witnessed the horrors of war like Franklin and Eric. Both of them try to confide in Ginnie, telling her about the airplane factory and how horrible it was. Though Ginnie is a different type of innocent from Sybil and Ramona; all three of them represent innocence in the stories.

2.)  In all three stories, Characters have a disconnect with the world around them. In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Seymour, is not connected to the world around him at all. A perfect example for this is on Page 16. Seymour is lying on the beach, in a bathrobe, and is talking with a six-year-old child. There is something very wrong if that is what he is doing on the beach. There is a disconnect between him and Muriel as well as him and the world. He should be with is wife or having conversations and spending time with adults, not children. This is also the case in Uncle Wiggly in CT. There is a disconnect between Eloise and her family, and Eloise and the world. Eloise does not seem to care about Lew, by the way she laughs about his mothers death (Page 30) and she also does not seem to care for Ramona the way a mother should. She has her maid take care of Ramona more than she does herself. Eloise also appears to drink her problems away. She continues to drink and this creates a huge disconnect between her and everyone/ everything around her. She smokes or drinks whenever Walt is mentioned, and this probably happens all the time. Lastly, in Just Before the War with the Eskimos, Franklin experiences a disconnect with the world around him. After Franklin returned from the war, he was no longer the same person he was before. He makes odd statements and seems to ‘be out of it.’ While talking to Selena on page 81, Ginnie finds out that Franklin isn’t necessarily right in the head. Selena tells her that he was supposed to go back to college but he complains he is to old now. He is only 24. Franklin also makes Ginnie eat half of a sandwich he has for no apparent reason. The disconnect for Franklin and Seymour is probably he worst because they were permanently changed after the war, so it made their disconnect even worse.