Previous
Motifs
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” takes place at a seaside holiday resort in Florida. The year is 1948, according to Seymour Glass’s most recent epithet for his wife, Muriel: “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948.” The story thus occurs not long after the end of World War II. Seymour, like Salinger himself, was in combat in Europe. Seymour has recently been discharged from the army hospital, where, based on Muriel and her mother’s conversation, he was admitted for showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress (though this term would not have been recognized or used as a diagnosis at the time). The impact of the war is felt by Muriel, too, on a completely different level:
"We couldn't get the room we had before the war," said the girl. "The people are awful this year. You should see what sits next to us in the dining room. At the next table. They look as if they drove down in a truck."
Muriel's comfort and her sense of upper-class privilege have been disrupted. She feels this as a tragic loss. Her attitude and the pleasant, frivolous atmosphere of the resort in general are at odds with the horror of the recent war and with Seymour’s inner turmoil. Seymour seems to register the society to which he belongs as false and sinister. He prefers the company and conversation of Sybil, a child. Notably, his interaction with Sybil is the only scene that takes place outdoors. They talk and swim at the beach, at some distance from the actual resort building. But the reprieve Seymour gets with Sybil playing in the open ocean is temporary and fleeting. He returns to where the story started: in the Glass’s hotel room. The setting is a closed circle, reflecting Seymour’s inability to escape, except through killing himself.
Related Themes:
