Similarities in the Stories

#1 War. In Bananafish, Seymour was a war vet and the story described some of the psychological results that came from that experience. In Uncle Wiggly, Eloise opens up at the end about Walt, her first husband who was killed while at the war. This also talks about the psychological damages from war, but through the perspective of soldiers' families. In Just Before the War with the Eskimos, Selena's brother talks about a war with Eskimos.

#2) WWII Era. They're all centered in the WWII Era, and connect in some way to WWII,

#3) Wealth. Despite the war, the characters of the stories are very wealthy. In Bananafish, Muriel had many possessions and talked about fashion with her mother. In Uncle Wiggly, Eloise is rich because of her apparent abundance of alcohol and the fact that she has a live-in maid. In Just Before the War with the Eskimos, Ginnie has an allowance of four-fifty a week and both girls can afford to play tennis every weekend with fresh tennis balls and pay for a cab ride home.

#4) Revealing development at the very end. In Bananafish, Seymour makes his clearest statement about himself to others by killing himself. In Uncle Wiggly, Eloise opens up and cries about Walt, and asks Mary-Jane if she was a nice girl. In Just Before the War with the Eskimos, an important part of Ginnie's personality is revealed when we read "It had taken her three days to dispose of the Easter chick she had found dead on the sawdust in the bottom of her wastebasket."