"For Esmé" vs. "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"

"For Esmé" and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", both share a wide variety of reoccurring themes and symbols. However in each, protagonists deal with conflict in different ways.

Both "For Esmé" and "APDFB" revolve around war. In "APDFB", Seymour struggles with the repercussions of his service. He struggles with the notion that he lost his innocence. He expresses this through the Bananafish metaphor. He seems himself, as a Bananfish, or a soldier, who tries to kill as many people as they can, but then can ever escape the deeds they did. Seymour struggles with PTSD, and succumbs to his illness eventually killing himself. In "For Esmé", Soldier X struggles after his nervous breakdown in Bavaria. After, experiencing life as a solider in WWll, Soldier X becomes disgusted with the killing of innocent lives. He makes a reference to this, referring to when Clay shot the innocent cat, after the shell explosion. Soldier X is disgusted at Clay's ability to suppress such brutal events. The cat is a manifestation to all the lives Soldier X was responsible for harming.

In both stories, the main characters suffer from the effects of the war. In both stories, the protagonists are either negatively viewed by or regarded negatively by family. In "APDFB", Sybil's parents see Seymour as a disgrace. They worry about his mental stability and fear he will damage the reputation of Sybil and her entire family. Her parent's encourage her to abandon Seymour on a cruise and disregard their marriage. In "For Esmé", Soldier X's brother is seen as unsympathetic to the struggles of the war. When, his brother rite to him, he makes no mention of the atrocities he had to face. He doesn't even express gratitude for his service. He makes light of the war requesting he bring swastikas and jackets for his children. Soldier X, becomes frustrated believing he's the only one who was affected.

However, In both stories, characters deal with their mental illness differently. In "APDFB", Seymour succumbs to his PTSD, and kills himself. In "For Esmé", although Soldier X's mental state is grim he has hope. He believes he can be a man whose "facilities are in tact". His optimism for the future, shows sharp contrast with Seymour. Seymour couldn't reconcile his past struggles with the society in which he lived in. Both stories, are similar but have pivotal differences.