He explains, “ swim into a hole where there’s a lot of bananas. Seymour’s explanation of these bananafish parallels the suffering of PTSD he is undergoing. Seymour and Sybil continue their discussion in the water when they search for bananafish. For example, avoidance of stimuli and the feeling of estrangement from others. His behavior with Sybil displays a cluster of symptoms associated with PTSD. He doesn’t want to continue the conversation about his wife it’s bothering him, and he directs Sybil away from this conversation. Or making dolls for poor children, in her room”. At the hairdresser’s having her hair dyed mink. She may be in any one of a thousand places. ![]() Seymour replies, “ That’s hard to say, Sybil. He also shows indifference to his wife Muriel when Sybil asks, “ Where’s the lady?”. His robe represents a shell where he can hide from the rest of the world, however, he removes it without hesitation to swim with Sybil. In addition, as Seymour was lying on the shore, he didn’t want to remove his robe in front of unknown people. He tells her that she is “ looking fine” and asks her to tell him about herself, adding that “ Capricorn.” From this instance, it is understandable that he is looking for innocence, as we can see through his relationship at just around 5 or 6 years old. Seymour relates to Sybil as if they’re both adults he is a married man, and she is a young child. Seymour’s PTSD is often characterized by his disturbing relationship with a very young girl named Sybil. No matter what the reason is Seymour’s behavior indicates he struggles with trauma. There might be an incident where tattoos symbolize one of the most significant traumatic events he experienced in his memories or during the war. From my understanding, the way Seymour behaves is because of his experiences in war associated with traumatic events. It is obvious that Seymour is suffering from a severe mental illness he not only has strange tendencies wearing a bathrobe constantly-but he is also delusional-hiding a tattoo that he does not even have. His reason for that is “ he doesn’t want a lot of fools looking at his tattoo”, even though he doesn’t have any tattoos. Further, along with the conversation, we see Seymour has been content to lay alone on the beach in his bathrobe. Moreover, his illness has a physical effect on his body, which makes him look “ pale“. Muriel, however, pays no attention to her husband’s rants, thereby neglecting his actions as a severe PTSD symptom due to her lack of understanding of Seymour’s struggle and a general aversion to her husband.Īt this point, we know that Seymour is mentally ill and showing critical symptoms of mental breakdown. Muriel also relates that this is not the first time he has called her demeaning names. From this exchange, Salinger reveals that Seymour’s post-war mental condition forced the marriage between Seymour and his wife to suffer. Salinger demonstrates this irritability through his wife and mother’s exchange when recounting Seymour’s berating of his wife when he writes, “ He calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948,” the girl said and giggled. They prefer silence, staying isolated, and separate from others. This is distinctly a symptom for those who suffer from PTSD, they no longer want to stay in an existing relationship and between family members. In the conversation, it is clear that Seymour was incredibly isolated from his family after returning from World War II. First, in a conversation with his wife and his mother, he reveals the ignorance of Seymour’s inner struggle. The way Salinger portrays Seymour to the reader it is evident that something is wrong with him. Many people think PTSD is experienced by soldiers, however, it can affect anyone regardless of their age. It is clear he is suffering from some kind of psychological stress, most likely PTSD given his lack of positive or loving feelings towards his family, his never mentioning of the war, and his sudden lashing out at the woman in the elevator. There are many ways to interpret Seymour he is unstable, damaged, mysterious, and possibly crazy. This is evident because he failed to assimilate into the post-World War II culture of America, and his failed efforts to overcome his urges and memories of the war that still plagued him and his creator. Salinger places the reader through the last moments of life as an Army Veteran and reveals the horror of war, trauma, and psychological consequences Seymour experienced when he returned home from World War II. Salinger reflects his experience with the main character Seymour Glass. ![]() The short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Abstract: In this assignment, I explored an in-depth analysis of Seymour Glass from the short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, with the aim of discerning their psychological disorder/illness/phenomenon they represent, and then conducted research on the issue identified.
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