INTRO by Jordie Chambers and a hypothetical question for anyone...

jordie chambers (jordiekc@rocketmail.com)
Sat, 24 Apr 1999 01:48:01 -0700 (PDT) 

Hi, I subscribed to this mailing list yesterday, the day
after I read A Perfect Day for Bananafish.  I'm reading
Nine Stories and have reread Catcher in the Rye, twice.  I
plan to approach Salinger's work from the perspective of a
writer.  I am a 22 year old male living in Vancouver,
British Columbia.  I have a few nonpaying accolades in the
writing business.  I've considered joining the Krishna
coalition or killing myself, though I never would do
either; I usually purge the dirge by making canneloni or
bagels.

This is probably trite to this mailing list, but I found
the most powerful layer, in A Perfect day For Bananafish,
to be Seymour's lackadaisical love for people and the
consequences of his expression of it.  It is so hard to
show anybody love anymore.  When Seymour kissed the arch
of Sybil's foot, I felt the link between them shatter.  I
felt so bad for Seymour.  Mind you, if I was Sybil's Dad,
not knowing Seymour, and watched that, I would feel very
defensive and react differently (probably by rushing into
the water and taking her away, resisting the temptation to
punhc him).  I felt like Seymour when I was very young,
wanting to express my love for everyone, so trusting and
innocent.  I 'grew' out of that when it was no longer
acceptable or safe to show affection for anyone besides my
family and close friends.  I could go on about sexual
taboos and social conditioning, but that's redundant to
anyone who feels stifled in expression of their emotional
voice and half brained (analytical) voice.  The outcome of
the story might have been different if Seymour didn't
express his affection in a sexually connotative way. 
Pretending you are Sybil's parent, and knowing Seymour
well, would you feel blessed by such a gentle display of
affection or worried for Sybil's safety?   






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