Re[2]: franny pregnant?

Christy Bright (christy_bright@smb.com)
Tue, 02 Sep 1997 20:07:10 -0500

Why do we assume that Franny's spiritual crisis had to be brought on by biology?
If this were a male character there would obviously be no question that it was 
his intellect and not his hormones that was bringing on this crisis of 
conscience. Isn't it possible that the highly intelligent Franny began this 
thought process all on her own? 
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: franny pregnant?
Author:  <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu> at sb-entsmtp
Date:    8/31/97 1:26 PM


Lisa M. Rabey wrote:
> 
> I haven't fanny and zooey in a long time, but what I do remember when I did 
> last read it, was how *I* thought she was pregnant, I mean after all, I do 
> think that is the reason she had gotten so sick at the restaurant, and how 
> much she wanted to do the "pilgrimage" type of deal. Its all subjective of 
> course, depending on what view you take it. But her actions, and how she
> related to her beau (I forget his name) as well to her brother, shows a 
> girl who is extremely frightened and that something is *up* and I don't 
> think its how she is discovering how screwed up the world is. Franny is 
> *definitely* pregnant, imho.
> 
> ttfn.
> 
> Lisa
> --
> Lisa M. Rabey
> Simunye Design
> http://www.simunye.com
> Coming to a browser near you
> ---------------------------------
> "Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit" 
> -Henry B. Adams
> 
     
Lisa,
     
        There is no question in my mind that Franny was not pregnant.  Given
the intensely spiritual background present in all of Salinger's works, I 
find this interpretation is an easy way out for many readers who find 
such matters difficult to reconcile.  If you believe she was pregnant, 
consider two questions: 1) Why is there no mention of pregnancy in 
"Zooey' by Zooey himself or by Bessie?  "Zooey" is the follow-up to 
"Franny" published two years later.  One would think that her smart-alec 
brother would have mentioned it many, many times in "Zooey" and the 
subject never comes up.  2)  Why would Salinger, whom I regard as a 
creative thinker and writer, choose such an easy, and perhaps cliched, 
fate as pregnancy for a character he obviously worked very hard to 
create?  I had read that Salinger was miffed at this interpretation that 
he fired off a letter to an editor friend at the New Yorker (I hope I'm 
remembering this correctly) complaining about such a superficial reading 
of his work.  The spiritual milieu Salinger creates in the story makes 
it difficult for me to belive she was pregnant.
   On a personal note, I have witnessed my wife go through two
pregnancies, and I cannot regard Franny's actions as that of a woman who 
has just learned, even if terrified by it, that she's newly pregnant. 
You have to also consider the fact that possibly while he was writing 
the story, Salinger might have learned about his impending fatherhood: 
Margaret Ann was born in 1955; "Franny" was published in 1955 as well. 
I think he might have known first hand at the time what a pregnant woman 
would be like in the first stages of pregnancy.
   I think these points are solid enough to dispel the pregnancy of
Franny as a possibility.
     
Cheers,
     
D.