Mary Jane And Eloise's Conversation Sparknotes

During the 20th century, the United States witnesses two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Holocaust. It was a period of disillusionment and spiritual desertion, where even the most basic ideas of the society are being questioned. War has not only ravaged the land of the country, but also the hearts of the people. The adults, heavily affected by the war, do not know how to deal with the casualties of war. As J.E Robert, an veteran from the WWII, recounts, “there is nothing about this war to strike imagination-except its vast tragedy,”. J.D Salinger, a WWII veteran himself, certainly reflects upon his own war experiences in the Nine Stories. He projects children as a mean to cope with the devastation and brutality of the war, while standing
Yet for some, childhood never ends. Eloise and Ramona in Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut are similar to Seymour and Sybil. Set in the post-war period, Eloise also grieves from the cost of war, as the love of her life, Walt Glass, dies in an accident in the war. Throughout Mary Jane and Eloise’s conversation, they never move away from the topic of war. As Eloise tells Mary, “[Walt] was the only boy I ever knew that could make me laugh… but he died putting this little Japanese stove in a package,” (pg. 48). Salinger warns the readers that everyone, not just the veterans, is scarred from the war. Her life with Walt before the War stands in stark contrast with the post-war life she is moaning away; the War takes away both her happiness and true love. Ramona, on the other hand, shares her mother’s grief in a particular way. As Ramona describes his imaginary boyfriend, Jimmy Jimmereeno, “he has green eyes and black hair…, no mommy and daddy.., no freckles…, and a sword,” (pg. 38). Ramona’s description of Jimmy reveals her mother’s state of frustration. In fact, Ramona can almost understand her mother’s pain, as she says that “Jimmy got runned over and killed,” (pg 50); in this case, Jimmy resembles Walt Glass. So if Ramona can truly sympathize with Eloise’s situation, is she still considered a child? Or is Eloise, who unconsciously creates an imaginary version of Walt and weeps as she “picked up Ramona’s glasses
Salinger portrays the children in the Nine Stories as almost means of dealing with the War. For Seymour Glass, he not only values Sybil for her purity and innocence, both qualities of which he can never attain again, but also condemns the adult world for ruining those childhood values. And as for Eloise, Ramona’s imaginary boyfriend reveals the unhappiness of Eloise’s life and goads her to create an imaginary version of Walt Glass herself. All the adult characters, despite their respective war experiences, are quick to realize that their tainted adult world can no longer host the children of tomorrow. Yet, they continue to look at children through the lens of an adult and neglect the love, kindness, and altruism necessary for post-war rehabilitation. In the grand difficulty of the post-war period, Salinger urges the American people to not only care for the children of the current and future, but also to salvage and preserve the best parts of the childhood virtues within ourselves before it is too