Re: Franny & Section Men
Anna Lewandowski (AnnaLew@worldnet.att.net)
Fri, 30 Jul 1999 11:41:34 -0400
> Of course, I tried to pay attention re the pregnant-or-not controversy. I
> think JDS rules pregnancy out but you really have to search for it (which I
> imagine is on purpose). In Franny's letter to Lane, she says "[Mother]
> sends her regards, so you can *relax* about that Friday night. I don't even
> think they heard us come in." And at the close, we hear Lane, "You know how
> long it's been? When was that Friday night? Way the hell early last
> month..." I don't think Franny would be telling Lane to "relax about that
> Friday" if she had missed her period.
I had to sit on this post until I was able to reread Franny and Zooey as
well. At first I read this and was nodding, yes, she can't possibly be
pregnant...but...
The letter was written on Tuesday (she thinks). Now what happens if she
doesn't KNOW yet that she's pregnant? What if she doesn't find out
until after the letter is mailed? Then she could have told Lane to relax
about that Friday night on Tuesday and not know that they had reason to
worry until say Thursday or Friday. And that is why she was so different
to Lane when they saw each other than when she wrote the letter.
And after Lane mentioned the Friday night at the end, Franny asked him
for a glass of water... almost as if she didn't want to talk to him at
the moment. If she was pregnant, that might very well be the case.
The first few times I read it, I never even thought that she could be
pregnant until I read it in the Archives... but now I've kept rereading
the story and then putting it aside and rereading it with a "fresh" mind
trying to find a clue as it whether she is or not.
So for now, I think she is. Which kind of disappoints me ... because it
totally changes the way I look at her character. So, until someone else
finds something that will make me think otherwise, I think she is. And
when someone finds something new, then I'll reread it all over again ...
and so on and so forth.
Until JD Salinger shows up on my doorstep with the answer, that is. :)
Anna