In a message dated 11/28/99 10:53:24 PM Pacific Standard Time, tim@roughdraft.org writes: << In the end, it's those damned nails, I think. I can't stomach the presence of women like Muriel, with their nails and their "the world can wait for me" attitudes and their self-help articles ("Sex Can Be Fun -- or Hell"). I can't help wondering whether the Seymour of 1948, who smells the rich-ness (purposely hyphenated) of that hotel room, wonders whether he's made a deal with the devil. And these things are not mutually exclusive: you can hate the circumstances and still love the person, and although it's not until later stories that we learn more about Muriel, certainly this Muriel, with her obsession with clothes and nails, is one to possibly drive an unstable fellow over the edge, no matter how he feels about her more tender moments. --tim >> Come on, admit it, You Just Don't Like Her :) Here I'd have to refer back to Lucy's misdirected post -- and redirect it toward you (which you did yourself anyhow). She still married the guy. And he still married her. (Ok, yeah, but he shot himself). She is everything you describe, I won't argue with that. It's just that even in Bananafish she's more than that. I'd say Muriel's mother is the true archtype and Muriel is walking out of that, especially by marrying Seymour. Jim