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

Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 16:23:17 -0500

Sean Draine wrote:
 
> 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.

They are, in a sense, "out of bounds," because Seymour's character
clearly changes between '48 and the Glass saga.  Rather than outline 
the idea again, I gesture, with a blush, to the post of a week ago that 
started this thread.

Then, with another splash of red and a curtsy, I re-post this, which 
apparantly did not make it to the list, from Monday.  Re: Muriel 
instead of Seymour:  
  
--
I have fearlessly argued for this reading for years, but not many
people--including my freshman English students, on whom I have conducted
several experiments designed especially for the purpose--buy it.  I
think it's a failed suspense story.  You're supposed to think that
Seymour is unstable and that he doesn't like his wife (or is
disappointed in her, or whatever), and you're supposed to think he's
going to shoot *her*.  Look at the meticulous wording of the final
pargraph.  The gun is out, cocked and aimed before you find out who gets
the bullet.  Salinger even has Seymour glance at Muriel (suggesting a
kind of "aiming") before he pulls the trigger.  When you discover that
he actually shoots himself, you are to go back through the story and
pick up, finally, on the fact that it is Seymour who is the damned fish,
and his intellectual greed that is the banana fever.  THe materialsim of
the western world is almost incidental--a piece of deception designed to
fuel the initial "meaning" of the story. 
--

These experiments include whiting-out the final four words in the story
and replacing them with elipses in xeroxed copies.  I don't tell the
students I've altered the ending, and we start class the next day with a
written response.  A good number--probably about half--of the first-time
readers have guessed that Seymour shoots his wife.  The half who think
otherwise lead me to call the story "failed" in the sense that I think
it clearly intends for us to envision Muriel as the victim, but since
many of us do not, it doesn't quite achieve the desired result.  

I have not put much effort to date in creating "realistic" ellipses, nor
have I attempted to replace "his" with "her" before "right temple." 
Perhaps a professional job done on the pronoun switch with no mention of
the alterations will turn up different results.  Next experiment (gee,
Will--maybe I *can* get a dis out of this...) is scheduled for
January...  


-- 
Matt Kozusko    mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu