A Perfect Day For A Bananafish Analysis

In the article “History is a Bath of Blood,” William James writes that “modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror is of no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life; it is life in extremis; war taxes are the only ones men never hesitate to pay, as the budgets of all nations show us” (James 303). However, his claims do not seem true of many returning veterans found in literature. In the short stories “Soldier’s Home” and “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” the two protagonists’ lives after brutal wars explicitly demonstrate the idea that although they survived their battles, their fascination with war is no longer there. Still, they find it difficult to adjust to normalcy after all they have seen. For both Krebs and Seymour, wars have dehumanized them and let them become social outsiders and pathetic heroes
“A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” starts with a conversation between Muriel, Seymour’s wife, and her mother. “Dr. Sivtski said Seymour may completely lose control.” (Salinger 118) This indicates that Seymour has been emotional and erratic since his return from battle. Muriel’s parents are worried about her, especially when Muriel’s mother knows it is Seymour who drives her daughter to Florida. Muriel tells her mother to calm down, “I asked him to stay close to the white line, and all, and he knew what I meant, and he did. He was even trying not to look at the trees - you could tell. Did Daddy get the car fixed, incidentally?" Seymour is psychologically unstable and tends to get distracted when he drives. It is clear that Seymour’s mental condition is getting worse. Though he loves his wife, Seymour refers to her as “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948,” which does not seem funny to women of her age (Salinger 118). His statement fits in with a larger trend of him becoming more misanthropic and critical of