RE: Seymour's death-- See better, Lear!

Sean Draine (seandr@microsoft.com)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 12:34:05 -0800

> As the story unfolds for the first time, there is little, if anything, to
> suggest that Seymour will shoot himself.  

Indeed, the bullet takes us entirely by surprise, and this is certainly by
design. The lack of any hint that Seymour will die, and the fact that he
does, are parts of an inseparable whole. 

> He glanced at the girl lying asleep on one of the twin beds.  Then he
> went over to one of the pieces of luggage, opened it, and from under a
> pile of shorts and undershirts he took out an Ortgies calibre 7.65
> automatic.  He released the magazine, looked at it, then reinserted it. 
> He cocked the piece.  Then he went over and sat down on the unoccupied
> twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet
> through his right temple."


> Both the syntax
> and the diction unmistakably suggest that "the girl" is the target.      

Yes, there is a figurative suggestion that Muriel is the target. The glances
at Muriel also suggest that she inspires Seymour to kill himself. Is it
conceivable that Salinger could have replaced the "his" with a "her" in that
last sentence? This just wouldn't work with Salinger's other stories.
However, if you've declared those other stories out of bounds, then I
suppose it is conceivable.