Re: a quibble about 'for esme'

Tim -- how exactly are you defining "housewife"? Seymour's wife was married, and
didn't work outside the home. To me, that's the definition of a housewife. The
word does carry other connotations that may or may not apply.

Thanks to you and Kim for the reminder about the details of Esme. I tend to
agree with Kim here -- it's quite possible Salinger didn't like his women over
the age of 19. He seemed to idealize children in general and I suspect that may
have something to do with it...

Jim

Tim O'Connor wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 25, 2002 at 03:48:58PM -0400, Jim Rovira wrote:
>
> > My memory of "For Esme" is imperfect -- he was indeed married when he
> > received the watch from Esme?
>
> Yes, he is married -- remember how Esme asks the narrator about his
> wife, then frets that she is being too personal. I think she asks him
> if he loves his wife very much, then worries that she is being too
> personal; he reassures her that if she is being too personal, he will
> tell her. (But you can tell he won't -- you can tell how much he
> welcomes the "intrusion," and genuinely welcomes that rare touch of
> humanity he finds in the young girl Esme.)
>
> > I remember the opening lines of the story left the impression of affection
> > toward his wife, but I think you complicate that pretty nicely. Is
> > Salinger just down on housewives (that NYT article you posted reminded me
> > of the wife in Bananafish), or does he use that particular kind of banality
> > as an analog for adult society?
>
> I don't think Salinger has anything against housewives in his work -- in
> fact, neither the wife in Esme nor the wife in Bananafish (esPECially the
> wife in the latter story, to use a Salingerism, as appropriate) -- could
> in any way be construed as "housewives" in any sense of that term,
> derogatory or otherwise.
>
> --tim
>
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Received on Sat Oct 26 08:37:50 2002