a quibble about 'for esme'

granted, many consider this story the apex of
salinger's work. and i've always liked it. but here's
my quibble.

present time: the first paragraph with the narrator
and his wife; he's forced to stay put and not attend
the wedding because she's level-headed and the
mother-in-law is coming for 2 weeks: mother grencher.
it's almost cartoonish the way it's presented.

we go through the entire story so that he's healed by
esme and the watch.

but what does he go back to? to a wife who wrote him
letters during the war about the service at
schrafft's. to some cartoonish suburbia of
level-headed wifes and imposing mother-in-laws?

even esme asks him does he love his wife deeply. he
doesn't answer her. are we to conclude that he now
does? that he's escaped suffering hell because he's
*now* able to love??

just musing.

kim

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Received on Fri Oct 25 14:24:33 2002