Subject: Re: who is the Real Seymour?
From: Mattis Fishman (mattis@argoscomp.com)
Date: Sun Feb 20 2000 - 01:10:21 EST
Madhava wrote, among other things:
> So what is all this about understanding Bananfish? It's
> asking why Seymour has left us here, and what we're
> supposed to do without him. For the Seeker, the Artist,
> the Scientist, this is *the* question. And Salinger has
> left what clues he could throughout the Glass family and
> their ravings, their reveries, their breakdowns, and their
> lifting one another up.
>
> At the heart of things are some pretty paradoxical
> spiritual questions that leave us in sometimes in a
> tragedy, sometimes in comedy, and hopefully not in a boring
> drama.
>
> ---snip--
> But is Salingers work really about Seymour, or is it about
> his Family? Maybe this is what that post (please forgive
> me for not knowing anyone's name yet.) was getting at when
> they said Seymour's personality begins with his death.
> Because Seymour knows he can't eat any more bananas or
> he'll get stuck in this hole, he exits.
> ---snip---
>
> OK, OK, much too much thinking out loud than ettiquet
> allows, I wasn't trying t bore anyone.
On the contrary, when you write that the canon may be about the family's
reaction to Seymour more than Seymour himself, I think you are reading very
closely what Buddy writes about being left high and dry, and not being able to
touch upon the details of the suicide. Not to mention Zooey's feeling like
a freak, and the scene in Seymour's room (it was Seymour's room, no?), the
quotations left hanging up, the telephone left connected.
Seen from your point of view, why he exits may not be that important,
after all.
Nice post, Madhava, and please accept my belated welcome.
all the best,
Mattis
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