Subject: re: women in Salinger's work
From: Mattis Fishman (mattis@argoscomp.com)
Date: Thu Mar 29 2001 - 15:28:14 GMT
Dear Fish,
Victoria wrote:
>I'm interested to hear what you fishes think about his female characters.
>Sometimes they seem to me more like cyphers than characters - they're there
>to provide a key to understanding the male protagonists rather than to be
>explored as characters in their own right.
>Any one have any thoughts?
I would be interested in knowing which examples you have in mind.
Certainly in a story such a Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
the woman is a mere prop, and it is true we only see Mary Hudson
in The Laughing Man as the cause of the Chief's behavior changes.
Perhaps The Inverted Forest (on of the uncollected stories) is a
good example whose main character is a woman, Corinned, yet the
whole story is seemingly about the poet, Raymond Ford, and
I never get a feeling for any development in Corinne's character.
On the whole, however, it strikes me that there are many well
developed female characters. Franny has her own story, and is
central to Zooey. Boo Boo is the leading character in Down at the Dinghy.
Ginnie stars in Just Before the War With the Eskimos and Uncle
Wiggly in Connecticut has no males appear in it (though some have
opined here that Salinger was not quite as good as he thought at
portraying two female former college intimates).
Muriel shares equal billing with Seymour in A Perfect Day for Bananafish
(though the opening section has been reported to have been an editor-
prompted after-thought). Bessie Glass comes across as a real
mother in Zooey. Esme is real enough to practically put out
your hand and smoothe her wet hair, and even old Sally Hayes is a
vivid recreation of many of her real life high school peers.
Oh, and don't forget the matron of honor (as if she'd let you).
These in the last group may not be the main characters in their
particular stories, but they are, in my opinion, well portrayed
"explorable", characters and not merely sterotypes or vapid foils.
Of course, since they are not the main characters, we do not have
so much to go on, but I could hardly fault Salinger on this.
After all, we can't expect every story to feature a female main
character.
Now, if you've gotten this far, there might be something more revealing,
along the lines of your post (which I neglected to copy) in which you
suggest that his treatment of women mirrors his own experience.
I would point out not that Salinger's stories lack prominent, real, females
(as I believe there are plenty, as above), but that there is not a
single instance of satisfying, mutual, love between a man and a woman
in all of his collected stories. Now either you can say that
Cosmopolitan Magazine already had enough of those, or that
it reflects on a similar lack in the author, or ...
all the best,
Mattis
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