Franny and Zooey; Significance of the Fat Lady

A detailed Summary of Franny and Zooey; Significance of the Fat Lady

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FAT LADY ON A PERSONAL AND SYMBOLIC LEVEL

In the story Franny and Zooey there is a symbolic figure known as the fat lady, who was first mentioned to Franny and Zooey by their brother Seymour who commit suicide. Automatically, whatever Seymour had said to them would more than likely remain a significant part of their memory of him. Zooey interprets the fat lady as being representational of everyone. Everyone with their own problems, whether they be physical or otherwise, but still deserving their fair share of respect, as does every human being or fat lady for that matter. The fat lady is then said to be Jesus Christ, which either says one of two things. This could mean that since the fat lady is everyone, then, therefore she must be Jesus, as well as Buddha, Ganesh, Ghandi, Elvis, etc. Or, it could be a direct symbol of Jesus Christ, who he is, what he means to his followers, and in particular what he means to Franny. Jesus Christ, alleged son of god, healer of the sick. At this point and time, Franny may have trouble coming to terms with Jesus, and her faith, seeing as how throughout the book it has been noted that she does not understand Christ, and at this moment, she needs that faith more than anything to

Deep inside everyone, lies a fat lady. One's fat lady is their true inner self, which is not always exposed to the general public. This inner self is in fact one's self, and is pretty much everything that makes a person a person. So, in turn, since the fat lady is representational of all these things, she is the person themselves, because of what she represents. There isn't much else to a person's true internal identity besides what lies within them. And that is what the fat lady represents. Everything the fat lady represents is all on a non-physical level, which is why she can still be a nasty old ugly fat lady, and still be as fantastic as she is. Physical attributes do not matter to one's fat lady because they have nothing at all to do with who she is and what she represents.

Throughout the book, Franny continues upon her path to enlightenment and understanding. At the end, she seems to have almost reached it, through the idea of the fat lady. And, the character of Buddy, seems to be in some ways a spiritual advisor towards both Franny and Zooey, since he is their remaining older sibling. The aspect of Buddha as well as Taoism is present throughout the story. Buddha is mentioned during some religious discussions, and throughout the novel Franny was on a path to enlightenment, so to speak. She was originally confused, and on the verge of a major breakdown. There were many things she did not understand, or had trouble understanding. She began on a path to enlightenment in order to further understand herself, the people around her, her religion, and basically her life. A very key aspect to Taoism is getting one'self on the path to enlightenment an

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Approximate Word count = 1118
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English