Subject: Re: Zooey's use of buddy
From: Pasha Paterson (gpaterso@richmond.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 22 2000 - 15:00:26 EST
"Oh, my goodness, HE'S still on this list?" Yes, I am, sort of, lurking.
Zooey's use of the familiar "buddy" reminds me of the same use of "buddy"
in "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period", when "Jean" recounts the story of how
he told off a bus driver in French for addressing him as "buddy" and
telling him to "move that ass" (Nine Stories p.131). D'Smith even makes a
point of saying, "It was the 'buddy', I think, that did it." Zooey uses
the name similarly when he is trying to get Bessie out of the bathroom so
he can dry off: "I'm giving you fair warning. Let's not wear out our
welcome, buddy" (F&Z 89). This application offends D'Smith because it is
supposed to be an affectionate familiar address but is used in an
aggressive, unfriendly way.
Zooey's second use of "buddy" at the end of the story seems more to reflect
the link between the "two twosomes" Buddy mentions in his well-read letter:
Seymour and Buddy, and Zooey and Franny. Salinger might be trying to get
us to see Zooey's lesson to Franny as a retelling or recurrence of
Seymour's teachings to Buddy. This would explain why Zooey feels so
strongly that the real Buddy would be of no help to Franny.
At 10:29 02/22/00 -0500, you wrote:
> Anyone have an opinion (I came to the right place, didn't I) about
>Zooey's verbal tick of calling everyone "buddy," when he has an older
>brother named Buddy? He calls Franny buddy throughout "Zooey." I would
>think that JDS, as a writer, would avoid using that particular address if
>he was going to have a character by the same name unless he meant
>something by it.
_________________________________________________
Pasha Paterson gpaterso@richmond.edu
Owner/Designer/Operator, The Digital Dustbin:
http://www.student.richmond.edu/~gpaterso/
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