Re: Seymour's death
J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:45:51 -0500 (EST)
I think I see what you and Matt were driving at just a Little Bit
More--but to me, Seymour shooting Muriel would Still have been a
completely different Seymour. The Seymour earlier in the story was
clearly sensitive enough to not hurt a fly--besides himself, perhaps.
He's a Seymour more comfortable with children than with adults, which may
point to his inability to deal with Muriel. Remember the story opens
with Muriel and her mother having some conversation about Seymour's
emotional stability--so we are set up for "something." It's not a
trigger pulled from a surprise gun at all.
Then we get to the elevator scene--Seymour deals with the adult female on
the elevator in the same manner as he dealt with the young child earlier
in the story, and of course it didn't fly. So I think the Seymour in the
story is very much more comfortable with children than in the adult
world.
I'll stick just to this story for the sake of being a true formalist :)
But if Seymour had shot Muriel instead, well, that would change all of
Salinger's world, I think. While I don't see adequate justification for
Seymour's suicide within the context of the story itself--Beyond the fact
that Seymour himself was probably the bananafish, and children (their
innocence, and honesty, and malleability) the bananas--I don't see Any
justification for Seymour shooting Muriel. That would be way out of
character for just the Seymour of Bananfish, much less the Seymour of the
other stories.
So I guess I didn't understand the question because I read the story
differently :)
Jim
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