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