Re: seymour

Kristen Shahmir or Pat Burley (patb@olg.com)
Tue, 07 Oct 1997 19:43:37 -0700 

Wow. Yes.  Thank you Randy for forwarding me that. Who wrote it, do you 
know?
randy royal wrote:
> 
> good stuff. i really did enjoy that old post, it's probably the best
> critique aviable for free =)
> cya~ randy
> > The girl on the beach was just a girl he met, the girl in the room was Murial
> > his wife, as a stand alone story, its god, but it is really the cornerstone
> > of all the other Glass stories.  As to why he killed himself and the
> > bananafish analogy, the following message posted several months ago is the
> > best answer I've evre seen
> >
> > <<<I think some of you may be looking too hard for the meaning of Seymour, or
> > at
> > least looking in the wrong place.
> >
> > Salinger has told the same story at least three times. Catcher, Bananafish
> > and the actual story Seymour tells about the fish are really the same story.
> > There might be more, Like Esme, but I haven't thought about it a lot.
> >
> > The point: Most people are able to see that the world isn't really to be
> > dealt with. They are either not able to see that there is so much bad, bad
> > stuff (phony, cruel, illogical ..etc.) out there, or they can see it but they
> > realize that if you want to be happy and comfortable you better find a way to
> > ignore it and work around it. But, there are always some people, or fish, who
> > can't manage that. They see-more. They have to take it all in, or swallow so
> > many banana's, that they can't let it go. People like that are in for a fall.
> > You can't live that way. Holden went crazy. The Fish and Seymour died. And
> > Salinger ended up a hermit. It's not an option, and you shouldn't look at
> > Seymour's death as a suicide. It's not like Seymour could have chose to
> > see-less. Holden's teacher tried to warn Holden of "the fall, Seymour tried
> > to warn the little girl at the beach,  and I suppose Salinger was trying to
> > warn us too with Bananafish.
> >
> > I don't think you're supposed to look at Muriel as a antagonist. She was just
> > there to provide contrast between people like Seymour and everyone else.>>>
> >
> >
> >