The War After War

We began the semester reading short stories whose theme was deeply entrenched in the feelings and effects of war. This past week has contrastingly been filled with narrations of mainly women who are conversing with men who have returned from war and/ or women who are talking about their husbands have returned from war. Instead of a perspective of a soldier feeling detached from society, or telling stories of their near-death experiences, predominately in Vietnam, Salinger has given us narratives which both indirectly and directly tell his audience what people are thinking of returning soldiers. In the second story, the reader is also given insight into the experience of what it is like to lose a loved one to war. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” the reader understands that Seymour has done something or has the potential to do something that is unfavorable, according to Muriel’s mother. In the second story, “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut,” Eloise’s husband, presumably somewhat altered by the war, is seen as hard to love, gruff, and still somewhat of a soldier. Eloise though married to the rank obsessed Lew, mourns for her lost her boyfriend in an exploding oven accident. Walt’s tragic death hangs like an unshakable ghost over Eloise, who’s grief has altered her personality and even how she interacts with her daughter.

            “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” illustrates an outsider’s perspective and observations of veterans who have returned from war. Salinger sets up a scene between Muriel and her mother, in which the two women talk rather cryptically about Seymour, Muriel’s husband, asking if he is getting “funny or anything.” At first, I read this as Seymour attempting to be promiscuous, until I understood that Seymour has recently returned from war. This possible funny business gives the reader the sense that Seymour is suicidal, especially when Muriel’s mother comments about him driving. Muriel’s mother chides her for allowing Seymour to drive, and wonders if Seymour has “done any of that funny business with the trees?” and Muriel replying, “I asked him to stay close to the white line… Did daddy get the car fixed?” The conversation implies Seymour may have attempted to take his own life by driving into a tree relatively recently. Seymour has also done something to “all those lovely pictures from Bermuda” and has soured his relationship with “granny.” Muriel’s mother continues to press her about safety, but Muriel still loves him even if he is somewhat odd, calling Muriel “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948.” The conversation as well as Seymour’s odd behavior with the little girl, gives us the impression that he is struggling to conform to be a citizen and live a “regular” life, and our impression is confirmed when Seymour shoots himself in the head in the last few sentences of the story.

            “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” is a short story detailing the pain of someone who has lost a loved one due to war. Eloise mourns a fantasy in which Walt never dies and returns home as he was. Eloise is trapped by her grief, and it has shaped who she is as a person. She does not like Lew, her husband, and claims to have only married him because they presumably had a similar interest in books. Though she is married and has a child, Eloise cannot shake the memory of Walt. War does not just traumatize and cause depression in those that serve. It affects every family member, loved one, and friend of those that serve as well, whether those they love, come home or not.