Anomie and a Bananafish's Liberation - Essay Example

Yet the actual theme is not Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mental disorder, weird in-laws, or suicide. This paper will explore a deeper theme, specifically anomie, based on an analysis of the relationships among the characters, the depth of the characters, and the fragmented interactive reality within which Seymour Glass responds. This paper will furthermore justify an even deeper theme: redemption. We are first introduced to the self-centered, superficial wife of Seymour Glass followed by exposure to the highly neurotic mother-in-law.

Seymour and Muriel are on a vacation together, but do not seem to be connecting much. Muriel had to wait for a phone call to go through due to heavy telephone traffic at the hotel. The author tells us that she “used the time, though” (Salinger 1). If I were to use that phrase, the meaning would be much different. I would be implying that something important had been accomplished. Muriel, however, smoked a number of cigarettes, read a trashy article, and attended personal grooming. Judging from the telephone call between Muriel and her mother, it seems their relationship is based on neurotic control games, vicious gossip, and unsupportive advice.

Muriel cannot finish a sentence without being cut off by her mother who really has nothing helpful or interesting to say. She claims to be concerned for her daughter’s welfare, yet she shows no real interest in her daughter’s feelings or assessments. Muriel patronizes her mother, using coping mechanisms (keeping the phone angled away from her ear, and confirming that she is listening, for example) (1). This relationship is based on dysfunctional habits and codependence. The trendy topic of the moment, interspersed with nasty comments about others, is Seymour, specifically about how dangerous he is, or isn’t, and how urgent the current situation seems to be, or not.

Muriel seems more bothered by her husband’s refusal to remove his bathrobe than she is about him wrecking her father’s car, referring to Muriel as “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948,” having an odd reaction to trees, interrogating Grandma about her death plans, or gifting his wife with a book of poems in a language she cannot read. Muriel is determined to enjoy her vacation and Seymour’s mentality is obviously not a significant consideration (2-3). Muriel is dressed in a white negligee, without undergarments, nails freshly painted.

This might be interpreted as a sign of relationship readiness, yet they have a hotel room with twin beds (1). She is on a vacation with her husband whom she spends no time with. She could lie with him on the beach or she could sing with him at the piano, as he plays, but she elects to consult an alcoholic psychiatrist she does not know in a bar where they are drinking with a wife she despises, about a husband she also does not really know (4). Furthermore, it is clear that the consultation was extremely superficial, involving no significant questions and answers.

Seymour lies alone on the beach, his pale vulnerability perpetually protected by a bathrobe (5). His only friend is a four year old girl, Sybil. Sybil is from Connecticut, which I suspect may be a pun, used by the author to indicate the irony of this strange connection between Seymour and Sybil. It is a strange connection because Seymour’s and Sybil’s tone and flirtatious mannerisms are like what one might expect from a