A Perfect Day for Bananafish

Seymour Glass, the protagonist of the short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J. D. Salinger, would undoubtedly agree with Dylan. His story is seemingly a very common one; a soldier returns from war and finds himself unable to relate to those around him, and, without meaningful relationships, suffers a mental breakdown that ultimately ends in suicide. On the outside it seems as though Seymour follows this prototype exactly, but in reality, re-acclimating to civilian life only serves as a catalyst for a much older, much deeper psychological distinction. Seymour Glass takes his own life because he believes he is fundamentally different from everyone else, a point illustrated not only in his inability to maintain relationships with other people but also by Seymour himself in his story about bananafish.
Seymour is unable to connect with people his own age because, after his experiences as a soldier, he finds their focus on shallow things repulsive. What he perceives as the universal focus of adults is exemplified by Mrs. Glass’ comment to her mother: “We couldn’t get the room we had before the war…. The people are awful this year… they look as if they drove down in a truck” (Salinger 9). Though her husband is obviously in a very fragile mental state (Mrs. Glass’ mother makes it increasingly clear that she thinks her daughter is in danger), Mrs. Glass finds insulting the other vacationers more important than defending her husband’s sanity. Even when talking about possibly connecting Seymour with a psychiatrist, she cannot help but mention the wife of the doctor she spoke to, describing her as “horrible” and “all hips” (8). The same sort of vacuousness pervades the whole resort in which Seymour is staying and forces him to physically remove himself from the small society, instead preferring to spend his time alone on the beach away from the area designated for guests of the hotel. Seymour feels the need to protect himself, sensitive as he is, from the poisonous