A Perfect Day for Bananafish
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"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is a short story written by J. D. Salinger, first published in the January 31, 1948 issue of The New Yorker, and was later collected in 1949's 55 Short Stories from the New Yorker, as well as his 1953 collection, Nine Stories.
[edit] Plot introduction
It is the earliest writing concerning Salinger's Glass family. It describes Muriel and Seymour's Florida honeymoon.
[edit] Plot synopsis
It details a day spent by Seymour Glass on the beach, as his wife Muriel talks to her mother about Seymour and the results of his psychoanalysis. It is widely praised for its depiction of the shell-shocked non-conformist Seymour, as he fails to conform to life post-war but connects and tells a story of the bananafish to a four-year-old girl named Sybil. In the much-discussed and analyzed ending, he then returns to his room, where he commits suicide with his wife sleeping in the bed next to him.
[edit] Related works
Other Glass Family stories include:
