Re: Franny's demise.

blah b b blah (jrovira@juno.com)
Tue, 23 Mar 1999 22:17:40 -0500 (EST) 

Yeah, but maybe Franny's problems went even beyond the surface
spirituality depicted in F and Z.  She gave up being an actress,
got...eh...Sick to her Stomach over the phoniness of the entire world
around her, and as a result retreated into the safe confines of her
parent's home (as Zooey pointed out).  I see the Jesus Prayer more as a
coping mechanism by which Franny tried to deal with her real problem than
as something significant in itself.  I think Zooey saw it that way too,
thus, the diatribe.  

Jim  

On Tue, 23 Mar 1999 17:00:53 -0600 Jake McHenry <seymour@ktis.net>
writes:
>Sorry if the proposition of Franny being pregnant bothers you so much. 
>(And
>before I get any further into it I would like to interject that I was 
>only
>mentioning it in order to have some sort of wordflow and not because I
>thought she was pregnant or not.) Truth be told, I don't really know 
>one way
>or the other. Surely we are expected to believe (as I do believe) that
>Franny is delving into the Jesus prayer and is having some sort of 
>problem
>with it. (Or because of it.) Good old Zooey picks right up on it and, 
>in
>perfect form, lays into her about all of the downsides to the prayer 
>and all
>that it commands/demands. And Zooey is completely correct. So if 
>Franny were
>not pregnant then she was just at some sort of monstrous impasse and 
>simply
>hit the proverbial wall. (Spiritually and in turn emotionally and
>physically.) And I can buy that. Maybe I would only lend any 
>credibility to
>the pregnancy theory because I just cannot for the life of me think of
>myself in those super-heavy spiritual shoes. Wrestling with God and 
>the
>Universe and the rest is, perhaps, the toughest struggle that we could
>possibly engage in. (God forbid we should have brothers like Buddy and
>Seymour tearing us up for good or for bad.) And I am quite sure that 
>any
>number of us has been blown out of the water by a book or idea or 
>ideal or
>notion (philosophical, theological, or otherwise). But, again, I think 
>that
>I cannot see myself there and maybe, out of an odd jealousy?, I 
>secretly
>WANT her to be pregnant. That way I would not feel so bad about being 
>a
>"spiritual heel". (And this sort of brings to mind some factions of 
>people
>getting pissed off that others are somehow blessed with an ability to 
>speak
>in tongues and they are not.) I just know that I don't have what it 
>takes to
>go all the way. (Or at least as far as Franny dared.) And I just don't 
>know
>if I would even want to be sick at my stomach over Jesus or anyone 
>else.
>(But this will all change in 30 minutes anyway. I am flighty that 
>way.)
>Also, please keep in mind that I am no real writer and just a simple 
>fan of
>Salinger's work. I am a lowbrow of the highest order. Please be kind.
>
>Hope all is well for the lot of you. Solid handshakes for you all.
>
>(And what about that movie with Mel Gibson? He had an embarrassment of
>Catcher copies. Did you guys hit on that one already?)
>-Jake McHenry
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: MEPIERCE <mepierce@sfasu.edu>
>To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu>
>Date: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 3:27 PM
>Subject: Re: Franny's demise.
>
>
>Jake McHenry wrote:
>>
>> So is there any sort of collected opinion regarding Franny's 
>situation.
>> (Emotional and physical.) A friend of mine (we all have one like 
>her)
>cannot
>> believe that Franny was not pregnant based on the way she was 
>acting.
>>
>
>I strongly disagree with your friend.  Only the symptoms you mention
>refer to a possible pregnancy. Nothing else in the story points to 
>this
>scenario.  Why can't readers accept  that her spiritual angst promts 
>her
>fainting and vomiting? For those in just such a crises--those who are
>fed up with section-men and loathsome little frat toads like 
>Lane--those
>who feel like lone pilgrims looking for hope among the chaos  and
>vacuousness (is that a word? i hope it's a word--it's a damn good
>one)--for those persons, Franny's physical demise does not need a
>biological explanation.
>
>--
>M.E. Pierce
>Dept. of English, SFASU
>http://TITAN.SFASU.EDU/~f_pierceme/
>"Are you a nobody too?" --The Belle of Amherst
>
>

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