In the three short stories, I saw two main similarities that held true in each plot line. First, the most important one would be war, and how it affects people from each side of it. In A Perfect Day for Banana Fish, Salinger wrote about how war affected people who actually went and suffered from things such as PTSD afterwards. In Uncle Wiggley in Connecticut, it was written from the viewpoint of people left behind by soldiers who went off to fight. Eloise's boyfriend died at war and this kept her from being able to move on from her past. Finally, in Just Before the War with the Eskimos, the readers are shown the point of view from someone whom wanted to go to war, but wasn't able to. In this case it was Franklin due to his heart troubles. Franklin seemed to feel almost left out, and like he couldn't do anything actually worth it with his life if he couldn't serve his country.
Another motif that seemed to reappear in the 3 stories was names. In A Perfect Day For Banana Fish, names were accentuated when Sybil kept repeating "see more glass", which was her way of pronouncing Seymour Glass. In Uncle Wiggley in Connecticut, Eloise's daughter Ramona had named her imaginary friends after common names that rhymed with made up last names. Finally, names played a small role in Just Before the War With the Eskimos when Ginnie continuously was very cautious with giving out her name. First, she gave a false name to Franklin (Virginia Mannox), and then later when Eric asked her name she avoided the question.
I agree with your post. I believe that the war is the main and most important theme throughout all of these stories. Salinger showed us through different perspectives the affects of war on different people in different positions. Even though most of the characters in these stories didn't fight in the war, they were all still affected by it.this relates Muriel, to Eloise and to Franklin. All very different characters who were all affected by a war they didn't fight in.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme i found was materialism and pettiness. In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Muriel and her mother are shown as very materialistic. They talk about fashion and clothing, while Muriel relaxes and paints her nails. In The war Before the Eskimos Ginnie wants the change Selena owes her from their taxi rides, which can be seen as petty. however in both stories, the affects from the war on people surrounding both Muriel and Ginnie cast a light on the unimportance of worrying about your image or even pocket change.