Perfect Day for Bananafish
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EXPLODING THE BANANAFISH
Three diverse parts are connected as one story in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." These parts demonstrate how Seymour Glass is alienated from the world, and it is this alienation that leads to his demise. The first part of the story is a telephone conversation between a woman named Muriel and her mother. The premise of this part is to ready the reader for the introduction of Seymour, Muriel's husband. Muriel and her mother briefly discuss the mental history of Seymour; he spent some time in a military hospital, and Muriel's mother thinks it would be a great idea if he were to see a psychiatrist. The second part of the story introduces Seymour, who is sunbathing on the beach while wearing a robe. He speaks to a young girl named Sybil, and tells her a story about bananafish. In the third part of the story, Seymour yells at a woman he is sharing an elevator with for staring at his feet. He leaves the elevator and enters his room and fires "a bullet through his right temple." On the surface, this seems to be a simple story with a wonderful metaphor between bananafish and a young man's state of being...