This quote is true: “Excess is bad”. Seymour gives an example in A Perfect Day For Bananafish of how bananafish can get banana fever. Seymour is one of the many characters in this story. There are also Muriel, Mother, Sybil and Muriel. Muriel plays a pivotal role in the story. She is an attractive and self-indulgent woman who has settled down in a materialistic, shallow world. This fiction also represents the worst effects of war on Seymour and other members of society.
Muriel was a girl with a great concern for her appearance. She continued to work on her nails despite the ringing of her phone. She has no concern for Seymour’s condition. This can be seen when she does not listen to the doctor who asks if Seymour is sick. The doctor’s wife is the focus of her attention. She says, “his woman was awful” (10), and continues to comment on that dress. Seymour replies to Sybil that Muriel could be anywhere. The hairdresser. Her hair was dyed with mink. Or making dolls for poor children, in her room” (17). Muriel is not concerned about Seymour’s behavior. He calls her “Miss Spiritual Tramp 1949” even though she doesn’t seem to care. Seymour’s wife would not have worried about him if Muriel had not been materialistic. At least, she could have driven with Seymour and accompanied him everywhere. Seymour was of no concern to her, and she allowed him to drive despite knowing what Seymour had done with her father’s vehicle. Perhaps she could have saved her if she had been more concerned about Seymour.
Seymour suffers from mental disorder and this is shown when his mother asks, “Did he try any of that funny business with the trees?” (6). This is a sign of mental illness, as his mother states: “Did the boy try to do any funny things with trees?” It could be that he had a traumatic experience with trees in war. No one can act without reason. Mother also mentions that he tried to use Granny’s chair? (11). This shows that many of his actions were outlandish. Seymour even shouted on her, telling her he has “two normal foot”(26). In the last scene on the beach, he kissed Sybil’s foot and killed her innocence. He’s so stressed out with his own life at the end, he commits suicide. He compared himself to Sybil’s bananafish example. The bananafish is a type that eats bananas in large quantities and can not get out. It dies with banana fever. He is actually comparing himself to the bananafish, which is a type of fish that eats a lot of bananas and cannot come out and dies there with banana fever.
Salinger, in a nutshell studies the social conditions of the United States post-World War II through his writings. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” examines the materialism of post-war America and its greed. The financial boom of the nation prompted people to buy things they and their families had never been able to afford before. This period of prosperity was a dramatic change from the previous periods of shortage caused by World War II and Depression. The advertising campaign for kitchen machines, extravagance clothes and magazines was geared towards women. Salinger, Seymour and other returning soldiers from Europe were confused by this new American blow. The trauma of war affects those who return home. They need extra attention. Seymour did not receive the care he needed and committed suicide.