Subject: Sargent X
From: Lee Dirks (ldirks@microsoft.com)
Date: Tue May 13 1997 - 13:13:37 GMT
Some friends and I started a reading club a few months ago and this
month it is my turn to host, so I naturally commandeered the selection
process in a rather undemocratic way and demanded that Salinger be this
month's choice. Due to time constraints, we've shifted away from novels
to short stories, so I recommended that the group read "For Esme, with
Love and Squalor."
I've read it many, many times and will be leading the discussion, but I
did have a question to toss out to you folks for guidance and insight.
Last night I pored over the criticism (Bloom, Wenke, French, Lundquist,
Gwynn/Blotner, Grunwald, etc.) and was unable to find a satisfactory
answer to this issue:
When the story shifts to the "squalid" or "moving" part of the story, it
shifts from 1st to 3rd person narrative. The narrator also hints that
he will deftly disguise himself so that no one will possibly be able to
recognize his identity. This is obviously not the case, as his
re-telling is quite transparent, and over the course of the story we see
immediately that the Sargent X character is the narrator of the first
portion of the story. (He even goes so far as to initially call one
character Corporal Z, only to later refer to him by name later in dialog
as Clay!) This is an intentional mistake and obviously Salinger is
doing this for a very good reason (doesn't he always), but only 1-2 of
the above critics really offer a possible explanation. They seem to
feel it has to do with Sargent X needing to remove himself somehow from
the events that transpired during the war now that he has "recovered."
I agree that it is valid that he is obviously needing to shield himself
from that whole experience, but why does he do so in such a haphazard
way?! The Sargent X character is a sharp fellow and by the simple fact
that he is writing such a detailed, carefully thought out story for
Esme's husband-to-be, why undertake the pretense of disguising the
characters only to make them so see-through over the course of the
story?!
What is Salinger's intent here? I know that crafty dog is up to
something!
Any input would be appreciated. Ideas? This one has really got me
thinking...
-jld
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