Literary Symbolism in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”

J.D. Salinger’s writing has been the subject of intense scrutiny for more than half a century. His main characters, the Glass family, have been more psychoanalyzed then most real people. The eldest Glass son, Seymour, appears in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" as the typical Salinger hero: a non-conformist in opposition to a grossly materialistic world. His ally in the story is a wise-child named Sybil. Their unlikely friendship fails to alleviate the "external forces which seek to inhibit and destroy him" (Grunwald, 123). Only outside of traditional parameters can Seymour find happiness, casting off the pressures of society and reveling in his essential humanity.

Salinger’s story abounds in literary symbolism. Seymour Glass (see more glass) is an introspective, sensitive character. He "sees more" than other people, and is possessed of a fragile psyche. Ultimately, Seymour shatters like glass (Gwynn and Blotner, 20). His swimming companion, Sybil, is possessed of uncanny foresight, much like the sibyls of ancient Greece and Rome. These women were regarded as oracles or prophets, a role Sybil fulfills in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Sybil is also a derivative of Isabel, which means "consecrated to God."

Her powers of perception are alluded to when she chants "see more glass" on the beach before finding Seymour (Salinger, 14). She also hints at the impending death when she "sees" a bananafish (Salinger, 24). She asserts that it had six bananas in its mouth, so it had begun its fatal gluttony. After this, Seyomur kisses her foot and suggests they exit the water, beginning the events that culminate in his suicide. Her whole hearted acceptance of his story, to the point of seeing the creature of his invention, allows him the release necessary before he ends his life.

Sybil, once released from her mother, runs off to meet Seymour on the beach. She goes out of the "area reserved for guests of the hotel," where Seymour is lying on the sand (Salinger, 15). The meeting place of the two pivotal characters of the story takes place outside of the confines of modern, repressive society, as symbolized by the hotel. Beyond these boundaries is the freedom of relative solitude. Inside the boundaries of the hotel and its beach are adults who tolerate no deviation from societal norms while gorging themselves like bananafish. The psychiatrist who’s in the bar "all day long" is a perfect example of the excesses of the Miami tourist (Salinger, 11).

Feet are an important symbol in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Bare feet here are a representation of basic humanity, unbound by the trappings of society. Just as bare feet are viewed with suspicion in the modern world, so too is the non-conformist. Seymour’s bare feet and humanity, slowly stripped of social graces, are both more comfortable off the private beach. Sybil’s last act upon leaving the private beach to join Seymour is telling: she stopped "only to stick a foot in a soggy, collapsed castle" (Salinger, 15). Her unfettered life force crushed the bloated, waterlogged symbol of society, and she ran off to join Seymour. He gets to his feet to tell her the story of the bananafish (Salinger, 19), which is essentially a parable on the gross excesses of unchecked consumption.

While they are reveling in their bare feet, Muriel is in her climate-controlled hotel room. Her feet are clad in mules, the utterly impractical yet universally desirable shoe for women. They add artificial inches to her height, and combined with her beauty regimen serve no purpose other than reinforcing the values of her culture. Seymour and Sybil are in the water, and after she sees a bananafish, thereby acknowledging imminent death, he impulsively kisses her foot. This kiss is devoid of sexual overtones, rather it is a "sexless and universal mark of essential humanity" (Hamilton, 28).

The woman in the elevator is unable or unwilling to see this. She surreptitiously stares at Seymour’s feet and he comments on it. When she denies looking at his feet she refuses to acknowledge his humanity, further alienating him from polite society. Seymour feels she’s being "a God-damned sneak" (Salinger, 25) and his remarks force her off the elevator.

Seymour’s bare, basic humanity is as socially unacceptable as his bare feet. He represents the nonconformist, constantly at odds with the manufactured world of adults. This is why his only positive interactions with other people are with children. Seymour likes three and a half year old Sharon Lipschutz because "she’s never mean or unkind" (Salinger, 22). He mentions this to Sybil, adding that Sharon doesn’t poke a certain little dog with balloon sticks. Sybil’s silence can only be read as an admission of guilt, and perhaps proof that the gentle admonishment worked.

Sybil is older, age unspecified except that she won’t need the top piece of her two piece swimsuit for another nine or ten years. She is astute and angelic, symbolized by the "delicate, winglike blades of her back" (Salinger, 15); however, the outside world has begun to dilute her childish sense of wonder and inherent goodness. She tells Seymour to push Sharon Lipschutz off the piano seat the next time she sits next to him. This awaking worldliness, as manifested in poking the dog and her violent thoughts towards her rival for Seymour’s affections, causes him to withhold his complete approval of her.

In examining the rest of the women in the story, it is clear that as they age they become more and more distasteful to Seymour. His wife, Muriel, is disconnected from him throughout the book. Their suite contains two twin beds, a powerful symbol of distance between the husband and wife. Throughout the story they have zero interaction with each other, and she shows no interest in the book of German poems he sent her. In fact, there was room in her luggage for bronzing lotion and beauty supplies, but not for the gift from her husband. This preoccupation with appearances can only drive Seymour further away, especially at the expense of learning the works of the "only great poet of the century"(emphasis Salinger’s, 7).

He is also alienated from the two preceding generations of women in Muriel’s family. Her mother is concerned Muriel married a maniac, and worries that he may "completely lose control of himself" (Salinger, 9). The grandmother has reason to dislike him as well, because of "those horrible things he said to Granny about her plans for passing away"(Salinger, 8). It is clear that the longer one remains in the world of the "phonies," to borrow Holden Caulfield’s term, the more disconnected they get from anything that really matters. Seymour’s final action can only be construed as means of preventing that end, which in his mind is truly a fate worse than death.

Seymour choosing to end his life in room 507 has special significance when one acknowledges the high value placed on the number six in the story. Seymour and Muriel have been married for six years, the doomed bananafish had six bananas in its mouth, and the tigers in "Little Black Sambo" were six in number (Genthe, 170). The tigers, incidentally, also gorged themselves to death (Genthe, 171). Seymour’s suicide is a reaction against this slothful, gluttonous world, and the parable of the bananafish is a cautionary one. He pulls the trigger in 507, in a room where the missing integer is six. It is a sign of his refusal to participate in society.

The value in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" lies not in the surface story of the characters of Seymour, Muriel, and Sybil. The story of the bananafish, when applied within the context of their lives, leaves room for both sadness and hope. Seymour’s suicide is not the result of a psychotic episode, but the last step in a complete withdrawal from a society dominated by "bananafish" desires. Muriel may escape the trap, or she may succumb to the materially engorged but spiritually empty state of being Seymour sought to escape from. The societal pressures seeking to shape Sybil will be held at bay as long as she remembers the fable. Salinger’s reaction against gross excess of materialism is still relevant in the twenty-first century.


Works Cited
Cotter, James Finn. "A Source for Seymour’s Suicide: Rilke’s Voices and Salinger’s Nine Stories." Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature. 25.1 (1989): 83-98. EBSCO. 28 Oct. 2007.http://lib.newpaltz.edu:2058/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=7728925.

Genthe, Charles V. "Six, Sex, Sick: Seymour, Some Comments." Twentieth Century Literature. 10.4 (1965): 170-171. JSTOR. 28 Oct. 2007 http://www.jstor.org/.

Grunwald, Henry Anatole. Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.

Gwynn, Frederick L. And Joeseph L. Blotner. The Fiction of J.D. Salinger. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, 1962.

Hamilton, Kenneth. J.D. Salinger: A Critical Essay. United States: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967.

Miller, James. E Jr. J.D. Salinger. St. Paul: University of Minnesota, 1965.

Salinger, J.D. Nine Stories. New York: Little, Brown, & Co.,1948.