Subject: RE: Grey Days
From: Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu)
Date: Thu May 01 1997 - 01:14:21 GMT
> not an enigma that can shed new light in our lives...since "A Perfect Day
> for Bananafish" is considered one of the very best pieces of short fiction
> by some and still taught in college (patience matt--one day your salinger
> classes will click--you are too fine a salinger reader for your students
Thanks again for the support. Over the next week or so, I shall attempt
to bring myself to terms--good, healthy terms--with what happened in the
classroom last week. Right now I'm avoiding it. I want to grade these
papers before I try to draw any conclusions about UGA freshmen and
Salinger and what I'll do next quarter. But I do have some stuff (stuff?)
brewing for the list. I hope to bring some of the more interesting
perspectives I get from my students to our discussion.
On this note, and drawing on the idea that "B-fish" is considered by some
to be one of "the very best": AS a story, I think "b-fish" is fantastic.
As a Salinger story, I think it is a little awkward (which isn't
necessarily bad). I think it misses or fails at a few of the things it
tries to do to readers. For instance: take a look at the last two
paragraphs. If we replace the last four words ("through his right
temple") with ellipses, I think it can be argues that Seymour shoots
Muriel, not himself. It seems to me that the reader, on the edge of his
seat, is supposes to think that Seymour is going to shoot Muriel.
Knowing nothing at all about Seymour Glass--as readers in jan. 48 did--
but what we learn in the story, there is a case to be made for Seymour as
nuts--dangerously nuts. Muriel's mother is clearly worried along these
lines. When we plug in all that we know about Seymour, the idea of him
shooting his wife is absurd. Very unlikely. But if all that we know
about him is that several people think he's dangerous, that he is odd in
general, that he is rude to people in elevators and that he is not happy
with the idea of gluttony, it makes perfect sense that he would shoot his
wife. "The room smelled of new calfskin luggage and nail-lacquer
remover." Just the kind of thing to drive a person over the edge? Just
the kind of detail to mention if you want to suggest a connection between
materialism and violence on the part of disturbed people?
Do look at this last paragraph (I can't quote it, of course). The
narrator provides us with carefully ambiguous information down to the last
four words. A psychologically unstable person plays with alittle girl,
insults someone in an elevator, goes to his room, takes out his gun,
checks the magazine, cocks the gun, sits on a bed, looks at his wife, aims
the pistol, and shoots....who?
Is anybody buying this? It makes perfect sense. It's all the more
shocking when we discover that Symour shoots *himself*. It's exquisitely
effective. We immediately reread the entire story, looking for clues. We
begin really to think about what's going on. Seymour becomes mcuh deeper,
much more enigmatic. we are much more sympathetic. we are sucked into
the Salinger narrative...
A student suggested that I try white-ing out those last four words next
time I pass out the story. It would end "and fired a bullet..." I bet
new readers would offer answers on both sides. He shoots Muriel, he
shoots himself.
The problem is, I don't remember my first reading happening like this, and
my class said they weren't expecting Muriel to be killed. But I'm partly
convinced that if we take off those last four words, nobody would really
know who gets shot. If nothing else, I'm mostly convinced that this is
the effect Salinger is going for. Does he fail? Comments?
sorry for the length. (and I am taking those xeroxes back up!!)
-------------------------------------------
mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu
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