J. D. Salinger: Nine Stories

Contents

A Perfect Day for Bananafish… A+

Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut… A

Just Before the War with the Eskimos… A

The Laughing Man… F

Down at the Dinghy… D

For Esme- with Love and Squalor… B

Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes… C

De Daumier- Smith's Blue Period… C

Teddy… C

A Perfect Day for Bananafish… A+

            A Perfect Day for Bananafish masterfully weaves together dialogue and ambiguities around the central character, Seymour Glass, to produce an unforgettable short story. The story is mostly told through conversations and brief actions in-between the dialogue. Characters' backgrounds as well as traits are revealed mostly from conversations. The phone call between Muriel and her mother, reveals that Seymour was released from an Army hospital and may lose self-control. The two women hint at strange events, but further details are left for the reader to imagine. After their phone call, the story turns to Seymour on the beach with a little girl named Sybil.

            From the phone call, I expected Seymour to be a freak, but he acts kindly towards Sybil. He wears a bathrobe on the beach which shows he is out of place, yet the two hold an interesting conversation. It is only when a conversation between Seymour and the woman in the elevator takes place that the reader sees a problem. Seymour returns to his hotel room where Muriel is sleeping and shoots himself. These three scenes move too rapidly for the reader to have a break in order to think.

            Immediately, I was left in shock with the question, 'Why did he kill himself?' bouncing around in my head after I finished reading. I re-read the conversations and actions, to see if I could understand why Seymour commits suicide. The dialogue hints at reasons, but only the characters within the story know most of the details. The mystery around Seymour makes this short story linger in the reader's mind. Salinger cleverly sets the mood of the story by sharing Seymour's problem revealed in the phone call. He then constructs an innocent scene that no one would expect a suicidal man to to participate in before killing himself.

            The story teases readers by inviting them into a complex home just to have them wait at the door. We desperately want to know every detail, however Salinger builds walls to keep us intrigued. I highly recommend this story for publication because the characters stay with you long after you stop reading.

Just before the War with the Eskimos… A

            Just before the War with the Eskimos lacks action, but the odd conversations between the characters make up for it. The beginning of the story appears normal enough when a small disagreement happens between two teenage girls over money. While Ginnie waits for Selena's money, she engages with Franklin, Selena's brother. I found their conversations entertaining and felt as though each line could be taken in several ways. Salinger provides more background information in this story than others, still the reader is made to read actively. From the dialogue, the reader can see each character's view on life as well as their hang ups. Franklin judges people harshly just as how the Army and Ginnie's sister judged and rejected him. Ginnie is judgmental as well, but also appears to be the normal. Their speech and actions seem realistic, allowing the reader to feel a part of the story.

            My favorite part of this story centers around the chicken sandwich. When visiting someone at home, a family member is bound to to try and convince you to eat or drink something. Franklin forces Ginnie to take a sandwich despite her refusal. This action mirrors real life and leads to a scene that caused me to rethink the whole story. At the end, Ginnie decides not to take the money and states she may come over. She leaves the apartment and almost throws away the sandwich. This action reminds her of when she kept a dead chick in her pocket for three days. At first, I thought she was normal, however by the end, I felt unsure of everything I had read. What kind of weirdo keeps a dead animal in their pocket for three days? The ending caused me to re-read the story with new eyes.

            This story is similar to A Perfect Day for Bananafish in the surprising ending, but handles characters' backgrounds differently. There are no real hints that Ginnie is odd in the beginning, causing the ending to grab the reader by surprise. Ginnie's wish to return to the apartment and the chick memory can be taken in different ways. Both actions raise questions as to what kind of a character she truly is. The reader is left to ponder her motives and wonder what actions will happen next. I adore the characters in this story and the ending won over my heart. I highly recommend this to be published.

The Laughing Man…F

            The Laughing Man is my least favorite story in Salinger's Nine Stories. None of Salinger's qualities that I admire appear in this short story. The narrator recounts a part of his childhood and the Laughing Man story he heard while in the Comanche Club. When the narrator does not retell the Laughing Man tale, he discusses the club's leader, called Chief, and his girlfriend. Although I connect to the narrator, the other characters feel flat to me. I had to force myself to read this story because nothing unique caught my eye. The odd conversations and ambiguities found in the other stories are replaced by a long summary of Chief's story. Chief's story about the Laughing Man bored me even though it deals with fantasy. I can see why it would entertain little boys, but it lacked Salinger's individuality.

            The story within a story disappointed me. I can understand that the Laughing Man mirrors Chief's life because the Laughing Man dies the night Chief and Mary seem to break up. It would be a wonderful comparison if I cared for Chief's character. Usually Salinger's characters standout because of their unusual tendencies. Most characters are affected by the war one way or the other. Chief seems to be a regular man that the children he watches have made into a hero. He has an interesting imagination, although it failed to interest me. The break up between Chief and Mary causes the Laughing Man stories to end for the children. The narrator does not understand the heartbreak associated with a failed relationship, but feels broken when Chief kills the Laughing Man. Both characters lose something they care about and it is hinted Mary may be pregnant.

            Salinger suggests Mary's pregnancy is the reason that their relationship ends. Though I would usually enjoy this ambiguity, it failed to interest me. I felt no real connection with Mary and Chief, therefore her pregnancy hardly fazed me. I was only interested in Mary when she told the narrator to leave her alone. The nine-year-old narrator only notices the tension between the two. There was no strong sense of yearning in this story or any reason to make me want to read the next page. I was hoping there would be a strange ending similar to the other stories, but even the ending fell short. After reading the short story, it did not linger in my mind. I would not recommend this story for publication.

Website Dedicated to Salinger

Biography

Purchase Books

Tobias Wolff

Tobias Wolff

In the Garden of the North American Martyrs

Contents

Next Door : B+

Hunters in the Snow : B+

An Episode in the Life of Professor Brooke : B

Smokers : A

Face to Face : C  

Passengers : C

Maiden Voyage : C

Worldly Goods : C -

Wingfield : B +

In the Garden of the North American Martyrs : A

Poaching : B

The Liar : C

First, let me begin by saying Tobias Wolff has this amazing ability of describing things in such a way that they encompass you. Sometimes, it’s very subtle and then other times it slaps you in the face. It’s great.

Tobias Wolff was born on June 19th in 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama. His father abandoned him and his mother to live in the eastern part of the U.S. with Wolff’s older brother. Wolff and his mother, Rosemary, fled to Florida when his mother remarried to a man named Roy. After a few years, the family moved to Utah in hopes of getting rich mining uranium. Roy had become mentally and physically abusive to both Tobias and his mother, so the two fled to Washington, where Rosemary met Dwight. They then moved to Concrete, Washington where Dwight lived. Soon, Dwight became abusive, just as Roy and Tobias’ father had been. Tobias, who desperately wanted to get away from the abuse began lying and telling tale-tale stories. When he was a teen, Wolff changed his name and applied to private schools on the east cost in hopes to get away from his stepfather. He forged transcripts and claimed to be an A-student and star athlete. Once accepted, Tobias’ lies soon floated to the surface. His grades didn’t exactly reflect those of his transcript and he was expelled. Wolff then joined the U.S. Army and was shipped to Vietnam.

In the Garden of the Great American Martyrs, Wolff bases many of his stories in the North Western part of the United States, mainly northern Washington and the cost of Oregon. Although these stories are fictional, I believe some are loosely based on events that happened in Wolff’s life.

Smokers

The main character, whose name we don’t know is from Oregon and he is on his way to Choate, a private school in Wallingford, Connecticut. The story begins as the boy is on the train and sees this boy who is dressed oddly with an evergreen hat with feathers. He hopes that the boy will not sit down beside him, which he does and doesn’t stop talking all the way to the school. The main character hopes they won't be roommates, which they aren’t. Eugene, the oddly dressed boy is roomed with Talbot, a boy that everyone wants to be friends with, including our protagonist. In what seems rude and desperate, the main character starts hanging out with Eugene so he can befriend Talbot. The main character and Eugene are both “scholarship kids” and the protagonist wishes he were more like Talbot. Throughout the story, the three boys sneak off to go smoke and steel liquid codeine from the infirmary to mix in there Coke. Eugene goes with Talbot to his family's home to hunt during the Christmas break, leaving our protagonist feeling pretty low. Once the boys return to school, Eugene asks the main character if he has someone to room with next semester, the boy lies to Eugene because he is on his way to ask Talbot, who has already asked Eugene to room with him. The boy is devastated and heartbroken. Later the same day, Talbot has been smoking in his and Eugene’s room, but leaves shortly after. Eugene, who is alone in the room, is “caught” by Big John, the headmaster of the school. Although Eugene wasn’t actually smoking, Big John claims he was because of the smell and Talbot wasn’t in the room. At the end, Eugene gets kicked out of Choate and the protagonist considers telling the truth, but then decides not to because Talbot comes to him, asking if they can be roommates.

In the Garden of the North American Martyrs

This short story is about a woman, named Mary who teaches at a college that goes bankrupt, leaving her with one option: to work at a college in Oregon - a place she hates because it is damp and rainy. Mary hates her life and job. She researches other professor’s works in order to give her own lectures because she doesn't’ want to seem ignorant. She copies the works word for word. Out of the blue, she is contacted by her old co-worker, Louise who is now working at a “wonderful” college in upstate New York. Mary is surprised when Louse tells her the reason she has contacted her - a teaching job has opened at the college Louise is teaching at and her first thought was that Mary would be the perfect candidate. Louise and the college has paid for Mary to come stay on the grounds in a little cabin on the campus until her interview the next day. The only thing Louise wants to talk about is her affair and how she thinks she is going to leave her husband for the other man. The day of Mary’s interview, she is hit with the fact that they only interviewed her because of a rule the college has. A rule that states the college must interview one woman when a position opens, as to seem fair and not sexist, (which, spoiler alert*, fails miserably). Louise then informs Mary that she has to give a lecture of some sort only hours after her interview. Mary panics and Louise tells her she can give a lecture on one of her works that she hasn’t had published yet. Mary does not like this idea because she claims it is going to be “‘her first act of plagiarism’”. Which, is very hypocritical of her considering all of her lectures she gives are basically stolen from other people. Once the lecture begins, Mary decides she isn’t going to give the lecture on Louise’s article and wings it. She begins, very vividly, talking about the Iroquois Indians in this part of the state and how they were fierce and powerful and participated in cannibalism - going into great detail about a story of two men who were captured by the Iroquois, who ate their hearts and drink their blood as a punishment. Mary’s story horrifies Louise and she is stopped by the head professor who interviewed her. She ends her speech quoting the Bible and telling the audience to "'turn form power to love. Be kind. Do justice. Walk humbly.’”

Wolff is known for his memoir, This Boy’s Life which documents his adolescent years with his mother and abusive father figures. Wolff’s mother moved to Washington D.C, (where in her first months there, Dwight stalked her and attempted to kill her) and became the president of the League of Women Voters. Wolff moved to California and lives with his wife and two children. He is the Ward W. & Priscilla B. Woods professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford. He is 72 years old.

Check out Wolff’s page on Stanford’s website (videos included): https://english.stanford.edu/people/tobias-wolff

If you’re feeling froggy and wish to email him questions: http://creativewriting.stanford.edu/uncategorized/tobias-wolff

If you want to buy Wolff’s memoir, (which has been turned into a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro ): https://www.amazon.com/This-Boys-Life-Tobias-Wolff/dp/0802136680