Franny by J.D. Salinger - Essay Example

D. Salinger while making reference to appropriate texts. The paper will expound on the subject, the subtitles and the ambiguities within the story (Lutz, p. 73). In the book, the author talks about Franny and the weekend date that she has with her boyfriend from college (Slawenski, p. 48). The name of her boyfriend is Lane Coutell. Franny’s location in the book remains unclear. We only know that she arrives by train from a college that is similar to Smith and she intends to spend her weekend at a college that appears to be Princeton, watching the Yale game (Lutz, p. 99). During her journey, she is seen carrying a book with her that is called ‘The way of a Pilgrim’.

The book is a Russian religious text that talks about the importance of spiritual illumination and the idea of praying continuously (Slawenski, p. 119). When Franny meets with her boyfriend Coutell, the pair goes out to lunch. Coutell takes Franny to a very fashionable hotel room and tries to create a lasting impression by telling her of how his has received a proposal to publish his latest paper on Flaubert (Lutz, p. 14). The irony of all this is that Franny appears to be upset by the news rather than be excited and jovial about it.

She wonders how college education has been important to Lane and questions the worth of the friends that Lane keeps (Slawenski, p. 12). During their lunch, Franny does not eat anything but spends most of the time smoking continuously. She gets really uncomfortable and this can be seen in the sweating and feelings of faintness that she experiences. This leads her to excuse herself and head to the rest room where she cries for some time until she regains her composure. When she returns to their table, her boyfriend Lane begins to question her about the small book that she had brought with her.

She responds by telling her boyfriend the name of the book in full and tells him what the story is all about, praying without ceasing. Franny goes on and on with the story and Lane appears to be bored and less interested about it. He is only concerned with the timetable of the football game and the party they had purposed to attend (Lutz, p. 103). When all this is happening, Franny faints and Lane has to tend to her. This means that the party, the football games and all other activities that had been planned for the weekend are postponed (Slawenski, p. 44). When Franny wakes up from her fainting, her boyfriend Lane goes to get a taxi and leaves Franny alone and she starts to practice the praying without ceasing that she had read about (Lutz, p. 23). The author of the text tries to release his inner emotions and thoughts about Hindu Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism through the characters used in the book.

He was popularly known for his deep interest in these eastern religious philosophies (Lutz, p.13). In a short section in the second part of the book, the author has quoted certain spiritual texts. These include the Zen koan which he has likened to the prayer of Jesus Christ who is the son of God (Slawenski, p. 92). When the second section of the book is being introduced, the narrator of the book, Buddy Glass, brings the debate as to whether the book is a love story or a mystical discussion. Some critics and other authors have been quoted saying that the book, Franny and Zooey, can simply be interpreted to mean a modern Zen tale whose