Re: Franny not pregnant

David Schrimpf (schrimpf@usa.net)
Fri, 01 Aug 1997 20:19:24 +0000 

Laura wrote:

>I got so angry at this professor and lost complete respect for them that
>I dropped the course.  (Never taking a creative writing class again).
>(My fault, not hers).
>
>To clarify, or at least to finally get to the Point of all this:  It
>made me mad that a professor who was familiar with Salinger could even
>THINK and AGREE with the idea that Franny got herself pregnant.  As if
>she needed a REASON to begin searching for some kind of ANSWER to the
>religious life.  Why couldn't she think it on her own?  Why did a
>pregnancy have to be the impetus of a life with more meaning than a
>world of phonies?  How could my wonderful Franny get herself knocked
>up???!!!
>
>Okay so she WAS getting physically ill in the restaurant.  And she said
>she hadn't been herself lately.  But anyone who really gets WORKED UP
>over something can be made physically ill.  I get myself really worked
>up over things and make myself sick too.  If I can, obviously Franny
>can.  I thought that (the professor) saying Franny was pregnant was
>condescending; I thought (please forgive me here for what I am about to
>say) that a MAN come up with that idea.  As if a FEMALE couldn't come up
>with SEARCHING on their own.  As if only something AMISS (pregnancy in
>this case) could only bring it on in the life of a girl. I was
>affronted.  To say the least.

Yeesh!  I think you were kinda hard on your prof. :)  He/She was only
telling you about one possibility that SOME people have considered.  When I
first read the story, the pregnancy thing crossed my mind, but I was trying
not to get too stuck on one idea unless there was real reason to. I still
don't have a set idea of what was going on with Franny. I'm open to any
that you people might have...

>
>Now to the present:  I re-read "Franny" last week.  And I noticed many
>allusions to what I thought were "relations of the sexual kind".  Could
>Franny have been pregnant?
>

Yes, there were "allusions to relations of the sexual kind". Even though
they are really small, these "allusions" gave a BIG boost to the pregnancy
theory.  I might have totally dismissed it otherwise...

The whole prayer thing has always bothered me.  I can't explain it, it just
doesn't seem like something that Franny (or any of the Glasses) would try.



David
E-Mail:   schrimpf@usa.net
http://www.biogate.com/david
IRC Nick:  "Amory"