> >this reminded me of something that struck me in my last reading of f&z--zooey >always refers to bessie as fat, fatty, etc. is she the fat woman? and if she >is, might that open the door for some oedipal interpretations of seymour's >advice to zooey about the fat lady? just a few thoughts...matt > > My own personal reading of Salinger brings me very close to the conclusion that he was skeptical, sardonic--even derisive, if you listen to Buddy--about psychoanalytic theory. He mentions Jung in particular (In "Raise High"), but I don't think he'd be any more accepting of Freud. I think Salinger has given his characters a sort of basic existentialism--where they themselves are responsible for their actions, their thoughts, their belief systems, and do not take closely into account conditioning or, as Jung would have it, innate and perhaps genetic motives. Hmm...as I'm thinking about it, I could be wrong about Holden. He seems to be a Product of His Environment, if you will (although I'd rather not, to be honest). But the Glasses are certainly in control of their own minds--or at least they think they are--or at least Buddy thinks they think they are. It's all very convoluted, isn't it? My only support for this rather spur-of-the-moment theory is Buddy's attitude toward the Matron of Honor (In "Raise High" again) as she discusses Seymour's latent homosexuality and his troubles being based on his young life on the radio. Buddy is openly contemptuous toward this sort of armchair analysis. Brendan ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com