Connections

 “A Perfect day for Bananfish” and “For Esmé- with love and squalor” both share common themes and ideas. One similarity is that both younger girls, Esme and Sybil are having some sort of relationship with an older man; all do to the fact of the loss of innocence. After the war, Seymour had lost his innocence and hangs around with Sybil, acting in a very immature manor towards Sybil sexually. In contrast in For Esme, X, had also lost his innocence because of war, but so had Esme, after her parents had died and she had to take on much more responsibilities. They too have a strange relationship. X first saw Esme in Choir and her voice stuck out to him rather than all the others and later that day they sit and talk to each other in the tea place. It is very odd because Esme is a 13 year old girl is sitting with a middle aged married man and telling X, who is a stranger to her all about her life and her family. They keep this relationship going by writing letters between each other. Another similarity on both these stories is war and the effects that war has on people. Both Seymour and X come out of the war with sufferings (mentally and physically), however both characters react differently. In Banana fish, Seymour has PTSD and kills himself. Seymour doesn’t seem to have anybody around him to truly help him. However X does. In For Esme, X comes back from war and has severe issues, with his tic, his hands shaking rapidly and other mental issues, but apposed to how Seymour reacted, X’s spirit is lifted from Esme’s letter. After he received her letter it says that, “he always stands a chance of again becoming a man with all his fac- with all his f-a-c-u-l-t-i-e-s intact. Meaning he can once again become the man he was before the war. Esme is what allowed X to get back to being himself, and unfortunately Seymour had nothing like that and his life was ended very quickly.