Seymour's Suicide -- Bruce...
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Fri, 08 Oct 1999 21:16:55 -0400 (EDT)
I've been thinking about Bruce's longish post two or three days ago (which is
an eternity on a listserve) about Seymour's suicide. I can see how Salinger
may have painted himself into a corner by **starting out** the Glass saga
with Seymour's death (or, rather, starting Seymour's story with his own
death). But I don't think we need to view it that way.
When I think of Salinger's characters, their personalities, the problems they
have, and the solutions they seek, I see Seymour's suicide as just one more
example of a subject Salinger returns to again and again. Holden --
intelligent young kid, perceptive and sensitive but disillusioned, wants to
run away and live in a cabin. Franny -- intelligent young girl, perceptive
and sensitive but disillusioned, effectively runs away from society to the
confines of her own home. So when I see Seymour, a perceptive, intelligent,
sensitive somewhat young man kill himself (the ultimate escape), I see him
following a pattern set by many characters in many of Salinger's stories.
Everyone is a nun.
I wouldn't define Seymour's suicide, then, as Salinger painting himself in to
a corner, but as another example of a theme Salinger seemed to return to
again and again. And I think Buddy was a vehicle through which Salinger
could ask the questions his fiction asked in general more coherently and
consciously, maybe in hopes of pursuing an answer.
Sometimes I think Salinger spent the majority of his career as a writer
essentially telling the same story over and over again, with different
variations and from slightly different angles. And, forgive me, but I think
For Esme was the one place where he finally got it right...
Jeez...youse guys are gonna make me read Nine Stories again :)
Jim