Franny
Eryk Charles Arthur Salvaggio (ecs1@keene.edu)
Thu, 29 Jan 1998 15:51:58 -0500 (EST)
Jess, don't read this post until you finish Zooey...I may give something
away and I want you to enjoy the story before I storm in with the canons
of analysis and ruin it for you and everyone else.
Thankfully, I have never been confronted by someone (and I'm
sure it would be in a remarkably self-assured, "I've taken two more years
of english in college than you have," type) telling me that
Franny was pregnant, or the legendary "She's anorexic" response.
For this to happen, it would mean that Salinger is one of the infinite
monkeys at the typewriter that finally finishes typing "King Lear."
I doubt, sincerely, especially in the context of other works, that
Franny is in any ordeal other than a spiritual breakdown. To me,
its pretty obvious by the end of Zooey; why this theory about pregnancy
and anorexia persist is, to me, just plain out weird.
Does any one here believe the Franny pregnancy/anorexia version of the
story? If so, could you explain why? And if so, what of the fat lady
speech that Zooey gives at the end? What do you see its significance
to be? (And I swear I'll try more than a snail up the mountainside to be
fair...but slowly, slowly!)
-ecas