Nine Stories

A detailed Summary of Nine Stories

J D Salinger wrote Nine Stories with the same brilliance as Catcher In

The Rye. His style is so unique and complex that all of his short

stories are truly enjoyable. Two of those stories are ^A perfect day

for a bananafish^ and ^For Esme with love and squalor.^ The main

characters in both of these stories, Seymour and Sargent X, have served

in World War II, and the fighting has taken its toll on them. Their

physiological well being was sacrificed and as a result they are no

longer the same people they were before. Both feel alienated from the

people in their life, the same people they had loved before the war.

The isolation the war has caused is carried over into their lives, and

it caused these men to search for new forms of comfort and security, in

the respective forms of Sybil and Esme.

In ^A perfect day for a bananafish,^ Muriel and her husband

Seymour have different perspectives of life. Muriel is a

carefree and complacent person, while her husband is quite

understanding that he knows Muriel can not provide. Seymour^s

no one to understand and comfort them, one has little to keep

Esme and the letter she wrote him. Sgt. X, because of the war,

with the innocence of Charles, Esme^s brother. It^s like she is

relationship with Sybil is making up for Muriel^s shortcomings.

carries around the ^stale letters.^ The letters perhaps are

match anymore, if they ever did, and he is seeking some sort of

In these cases war is what causes alienation, as it distances

Approximate Word count = 665
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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