Re: Cheever and Salinger


Subject: Re: Cheever and Salinger
From: midge immington (midgeimmington@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 15:06:16 EDT


Thanks, Chris!

--Midge
--- Chris Kubica <ckubica@insightbb.com> wrote:
> That's beautiful thinking, Midge, if I may say. I
> never thought about how,
> indeed, Sybil's banafish will be able to get
> out...duh.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> chris kubica
> the fm pro, inc.
> 765-497-2294 (Phone)
> 425-671-5648 (Fax)
>
> http://members.aol.com/thefmpro/
>
>
> > From: midge immington <midgeimmington@yahoo.com>
> > Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> > Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 10:06:45 -0700 (PDT)
> > To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> > Subject: Re: Cheever and Salinger
> >
> > Hi!
> >
> > I'm not saying that six nor 78 per se are
> symbolic.
> > What I think is interesting is that Sybil first
> says
> > re the tigers "only six" in response to Seymour's
> "so
> > many". Then in the bananafish scene, he refers to
> 78
> > as an example of the tragedy of the bananafish
> getting
> > trapped and not being able to get out. When Sybil
> > sees the bananafish it is again six. In both
> cases
> > she's offering an opposing view to his. (There is
> the
> > constancy of the child with six.) This
> bananafish
> > will be able to get out--after all, she sees 6
> bananas
> > not 78. If at one level Seymour is the
> bananafish, he
> > then realizes he will be able to escape his
> dilemma of
> > being trapped--hence the kiss.
> >
> >
> > Bye!
> > Midge
> >
> > --- Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu> wrote:
> >> ok, what? What I see is wordplay :). Sybil said
> >> she saw six tigers. For
> >> that reason, she then said she saw a bananafish
> with
> >> six bananas in her
> >> mouth. What does the number do beyond provide a
> >> basis for wordplay in
> >> Seymour/Sybil's dialog?
> >>
> >> What, then, is the point of a single bananafish
> >> eating as many as "78"
> >> bananas? Rather than running to a Kabbalistic
> >> interpretation of 78, common
> >> sense tells me that everyone's just pulling
> numbers
> >> out of their heads :).
> >>
> >> There's no point is saying "it has to mean
> >> something" unless you can say
> >> what that something is, and give specific reasons
> >> for linking that specific
> >> something to Salinger or the story.
> >>
> >> It's not enough to just say that Salinger read a
> >> source. He read a lot
> >> :). That doesn't mean everything he read
> influenced
> >> every story he wrote.
> >>
> >> Jim
> >>
> >> midge immington wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> My point was not that the number was
> >> absolutely insignificant,
> >>> but we need
> >>> to consider the possibility that it may be.
> >> And that, if we are
> >>> going to
> >>> make associations, they can't be random or
> >> simply guided by our
> >>> own
> >>> imagination -- Salinger himself would have
> to
> >> give us reasons
> >>> for that
> >>> association. Sticking to the context of the
> >> story, the number 6
> >>> doesn't
> >>> seem to recur, so it's not given any
> >> significance that way.
> >>>
> >>> ***
> >>> Hi!
> >>>
> >>> "I thought they'd never stop. I never saw
> so
> >> many tigers."
> >>>
> >>> "There were only six," Sybil said.
> >>>
> >>> "*Only* six!" said the young man. "Do you
> >> call that *only*?"
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> [two pages later Seymour says]:
> >>>
> >>> "Why, I've known some bananafish to swim
> into
> >> a banana hole and
> >>> eat as many as seventy-eight bananas."
> >>>
> >>> [next page]:
> >>>
> >>> "I just saw one."
> >>>
> >>> "Saw what, my love?"
> >>>
> >>> "A bananafish."
> >>>
> >>> "My God, no!" said the young man. "Did he
> >> have any bananas in
> >>> his mouth?"
> >>>
> >>> "Yes," said Sybil. "Six."
> >>>
> >>> The young man suddenly picked up one of
> >> Sybil's wet feet, which
> >>> were drooping over the end of the float,
> and
> >> kissed the arch.
> >>>
> >>> ***
> >>>
> >>> Something's going on!
> >>>
> >>> --Midge
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> Do You Yahoo!?
> >>> Sign-up for Video Highlights of 2002 FIFA World
> >> Cup
> >>
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
> > http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
> > -
> > * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org
> with the message
> > * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
>
> -
> * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with
> the message
> * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Tue Sep 17 2002 - 16:26:07 EDT