“ A P E R F E C T D AY F O R B A N A F I S H ” ( 1 9 4 8 )

By Jerome David Salinger

J. D. SALINGER(1919-2010)

An American writer best known

"I almost always write about
for his 1951 novel The Catcher Served in World War II
very young people”
in the Rye. 

"a consciousness [among

youths] that he speaks for them
and virtually to them, in a
Salinger's choice of teenagers as
language that is peculiarly
a subject matter was one reason
honest and their own, with a
for his appeal to young readers.
vision of things that capture
their most secret judgments of
the world."
 STYLE & THEMES

Salinger identified closely with his characters

Used techniques such as interior monologue, letters, and extended telephone calls to display
his gift for dialogue.

Recurring themes in Salinger's stories also connect to the ideas of innocence

and adolescence, including the "corrupting influence of Hollywood and the
world at large", the disconnect between teenagers and "phony" adults, and the
perceptive, precocious intelligence of children.
 “ A P E R F E C T D AY F O R B A N A N A F I S H ”
Originally published in the January 31, 1948, issue of 
The New Yorker. It was anthologized in 1949's 
55 Short Stories from the New Yorker, as well as in Salinger's
1953 collection, Nine Stories. 

He was 28 years old when he wrote this story

It was "the story that would permanently change his standing in

the literary community."
SETTING &
PLOT
• The story is an enigmatic examination of a young married couple, Muriel and
Seymour Glass, while on vacation in Florida.
SYMBOLISM

Bananafish, the imaginary creatures that gorge

themselves on bananas and then die of banana fever,
represent Seymour and his struggles to reengage with
society after returning from the war.

Children: innocence
THEMES

Fragmentation, Disconnection and

The loss and search isolation and sense of lack of communication
for innocence loss (Seymour = see (parents-children &
more) wife-husabnd)

Criticism of the
Mental illness
materialistic world
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4i9Bya4Ebw