
J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” ends with the main character, Seymour Glass, committing suicide: “...he went over and sat down on the unoccupied twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet through his right temple” (Salinger 9). Seymour’s suicide is an unexpected event; it leads the reader to question the motive behind his suicide, as the story does not explain why he does so. Seymour Glass had just returned from World War II, and from the beginning of the story it is obvious he was not all right. His wife, Muriel, is neglectful of him, Muriel’s mother is extremely concerned and untrusting of him, the only people he talks to in the story are children, he yells and curses at a woman in an elevator and has acts abnormally in general. There are two main concepts that play major roles in leading up to the suicide of Seymour Glass at the end of the story; together they can change the way in which the reader views his suicide and the whole story. The first is the concept or ideal of innocence; more specifically, the ideal of childhood innocence. This childhood innocence is something sought after by Seymour, he searched to see if it even existed at all. The second of the two is communication and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or the lack thereof; disconnects between characters that lead to misunderstandings. Through thorough examination of the story and the above concepts, it can be seen that “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is arguing that PTSD, which can be caused by the loss of innocence at war, is a very serious problem and also the root of many war veteran suicides. Over 60 years after the publishing of “Bananafish”, PTSD is still a huge issue and the story’s theme is still perfectly applicable to today, with large numbers of modern veterans suffering from PTSD when returning from war, and still not enough being done to properly treat those diagnosed with PTSD.

Seymour appears to have suffered from PTSD, a somewhat common disorder among war veterans who have been in or experienced a traumatic event, after he returned from the war. It is estimated that as much as 20% of all combat war veterans have suffered from PTSD in their lives, with that percentage varying greatly depending on the war or conflict (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic). “According to a study conducted by the RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research, less than half of returning veterans needing mental health services receive any treatment at all, and of those receiving treatment for PTSD and major depression, less than one-third are receiving evidence-based care” (Reisman 623). Many PTSD sufferers, today and especially of the past, did not and still do not receive the proper care and treatment they need in order to fully clear or repress their PTSD. “Veterans now account for 20% of all suicides in the U.S., with the youngest (18–24 years of age) four times more likely to commit suicide than their non-veteran counterparts. An estimated 18 to 22 veterans die from suicide each day” (Reisman 627).

The definition of the word innocence is stated as the lack of corruption or a quality of being pure. War, however, is known to be the opposite of innocent: violent, petty, senseless, futile, cruel and inhuman. When Seymour returned from the war, he returned without the innocence he had when he went to the war. Not only that, but the war also led him to believe that innocence does not truly exist at all in the world. While Muriel is on the phone with her mother, we hear them discussing the medical treatment Seymour received after the war. This is the first time it is mentioned that Seymour did receive treatment for mental issues from a psychiatrist, though the treatment was neither long enough nor effective, with Muriel’s mother saying that the psychiatrist called it “the perfect crime” (Salinger 4) that the army had cleared him to leave the hospital as early as he did. What makes it a “crime” is how the doctors knew he was not stable and not ready to leave the hospital, yet they released him anyway. This also shows that Seymour’s mental state was not stable at his time of release and that he needed more treatment, which leaves him unprepared and unable to properly function in society. Muriel tells her mother that there is in fact a psychiatrist staying at the hotel that they are staying at, and when her mother asks if she has talked to her, she claims that it was far too loud in the bar to hear anything. Muriel mentions that the psychiatrist talks to her first, asking if that man playing the piano (Seymour) was her husband, and when she said yes he asked if he had been unwell. Muriel explained that she did not know why the psychiatrist asked if Seymour had been sick, "I don't know, Mother. I guess because he's so pale and all" (Salinger 4). Muriel shows her lack of innocence when she is telling this story of the psychiatrist to her mother. She lacks innocence in this way because of her neglect towards Seymour and ignorance of his mental condition. She does not seem to believe that Seymour has a serious mental illness, she plays along like he is okay. Muriel does not spend time with her husband on this vacation; he is on the beach while she is up in the room, and while he plays piano she sits at a bar instead of with him. She avoids telling the psychiatrist about any of Seymour’s symptoms as if she is hiding or ignoring them, which if she had told the doctor he may have been able to either treat him or find someone who would. Muriel also displays her lack of innocence in the very beginning of the story. The opening two paragraphs explain Muriel’s personality: “She was a girl who for a ringing phone dropped exactly nothing. She looked as if her phone had been ringing continually ever since she had reached puberty” (Salinger 3). Muriel is described to be a self-centered woman who puts the needs of her own self far above those of others. She was painting her nails when her mother started calling, and instead of going to the phone and answering it, she took her time to finish her nails before she even considered going to the phone and answering it. And also throughout her conversation with her mother, Muriel constantly changes the topic from the mental illness of her husband to something of much less importance, like the German book of poetry he bought for her and the green dress that the doctor’s wife was wearing. This selfishness and ignorance takes her innocence away, giving structure to Seymour’s belief of innocence not existing. 

Muriel’s mother also lacks innocence, but in a different way: her distrust. She clearly does not trust in Seymour; she does not trust him to drive Muriel, she does not trust him to be with other people, she does not trust him to be by himself and she certainly does not trust him to be alone with Muriel. However, she has another level of distrust. She does not trust Muriel either. She most likely believes that Muriel has lost her sense of good judgement, because of her willingness to her life in Seymour’s hands (for example, when he is driving them) and her ignorance of her husband’s mentality. 

Seymour, believing that there is no such thing as innocence in the world, tests children, in hopes of being proven wrong. His first test of childhood innocence is with a little girl named Sybil Carpenter, a girl who is playing with him on the beach. They are walking together when Sybil says she heard Sharon Lipschutz say that Seymour let her sit on the piano bench with him while he played it. Seymour then said “I couldn't push her off, could I?" (Salinger 7). When Sybil said yes to that, he began to realize that even may not be innocent and that true innocence may not even exist at all. After that, the two decide to go play in the water. But right as they are walking in, Sybil stopped and said “Next time, push her off” (Salinger 7). This statement from Sybil seemed to confirm what Seymour hoped was not true: even children are not innocent. They continue walking down the beach together, when Seymour asks Sybil where she lives. Sybil says she does not know, and to that Seymour responds that Sharon Lipschutz knows, and that she is only 3 and half years old. At the mention of Sharon, Sybil gets upset again: “Sybil stopped walking and yanked her hand away from him” (Salinger 7). She shows jealousy and a dislike for Sharon, traits that are commonly associated with people who are not innocent. A little later on Sybil asks if Seymour likes Sharon Lipschutz. He explains to her why he likes Sharon: “…some little girls like to poke that little dog with balloon sticks. Sharon doesn't. She's never mean or unkind" (Salinger 8). He noticed several girls would poke and annoy a dog that was in the lobby of the hotel he is staying at, and he also noticed that Sharon was the only one to not poke or annoy it. Sharon had perhaps given him a sense of hope for innocence, but Sybil, along with all the others who poked and annoyed the dog, proved that hope to be false. Seymour seems to be surprised, and then decides to tell Sybil the story of the Bananafish. After he tells of the selfish fish that only want good for themselves, Sybil claims to see one, though Seymour knows she does not as Bananafish were made up creatures. Sybil may think that she is trying to look better for Seymour, but he may see as her not only lying to him but also her trying to one up Sharon be better than her. This solidifies Seymour’s thought that childhood innocence, and innocence in general, are nothing more than ideal. Seymour and Sybil say goodbye, and return to their hotels. 

Heading up to his hotel room, he steps into an elevator, with a woman who is also going up to her room and the elevator operator. Seymour then asks the woman to stop looking at his feet, and when she tells him that she was just looking at the floor, he gets angry and tells her that if she wanted to look at his feet to just say so, and not to be a sneak about it, cursing at her as he says it. Immediately, she tells the operator she will get off at whatever floor they are at, and she leaves. Seymour is upset at finding out what he believes to be the truth about innocence, and his outburst in the elevator is the last thing he does before committing suicide. Doctor Herbert Hendin, who conducted a 7-year long experiment about PTSD and combat survivors, found that “suicides were preceded by a time-limited state of suicide crisis that was marked by three factors that usually occurred in combinations of two or three in a single patient: a precipitating event, behavioral changes, and intense affective states” (Hendin 584). The first of the three factors is a precipitating event: when Sybil told Seymour to push Sharon off the bench next time and he realized the truth about innocence; next there are behavioral changes: the way his attitude toward Sybil changed after his realization about innocence from being nice and wanting to play to testing her with the bananafish story and then abruptly leaving; and finally intense affective states: his outburst in the elevator with the woman he claimed was staring at his feet. The third factor is the most related with suicide, and is most likely what lead to the end of Seymour’s life.

Communication throughout the story between all the characters does not come easy, with most communication being ineffective and or taken in ways it was not meant to. Johannesen explains that communication “is not a one-way transmission but a two-way dialogic transaction” (373). The concept of communication in “Bananafish” is really the lack thereof, which combined with the overall lack of innocence and Seymour’s PTSD, can be identified as the cause for him to take his own life. While one-way transmissions are frequent in the story, it’s the two-way transactions that Johannesen is talking about that are lacking within the story. In Muriel and her mother’s phone conversation, neither Muriel nor her mother seem to answer each other’s questions. Her mother is constantly asking her if she is alright, if she will come, etc. and Muriel mostly interrupts her with something else or just changes the topic. Their ineffectiveness in communication leads to Muriel still not realizing how bad her husband’s mental state is and not taking care of his needs, and her mother does not get the assurance that Muriel will be careful with Seymour and get him the treatment required. When Muriel is at the bar talking to the psychiatrist about Seymour, there is a barrier hindered their communication: her mother asks what the psychiatrist said, and she replied with "Oh. Well, nothing much, really. I mean we were in the bar and all. It was terribly noisy” (Salinger 5). The ambient sound in the bar along with her ignorance of Seymour’s PTSD cause a disconnect between Muriel and the psychiatrist. The doctor assumed that Seymour was sick most likely because of his strange behavior, and Muriel assumed it was perhaps because of his pale skin color, again because of her ignorance to his mental state. 

Later, on the beach, Sybil’s mother is putting sunscreen on her, and she keeps saying “see more glass!” and her mother is annoyed by it. Sybil is calling Seymour, but her mother hears it as see more glass. Sybil and her mother are saying the same thing, but meaning different things; Seymour Glass is a person to Sybil but not her mother. This difficulty in communication shows a disconnect between adults and children, where Seymour fits in with children rather than adults. When Sybil meets Seymour on the beach, he compliments her om her blue bathing suit, but Sybil responds by saying “this is a yellow” (Salinger 6). Seymour was not paying attention and perhaps thinking of his own blue bathing suit. This shows that there is a sort of a lack of visual communication as well between characters, with Seymour either not paying attention or thinking of his own bathing suit. When she claims to Seymour to see a bananafish, there is a slight disconnect between Seymour and herself. She says “I just saw one!” to which Seymour replies “saw what, my love?” It is possible Seymour has so much going on inside his head that he had already forgotten what they were looking for or talking about. The break in communication leads one to believe Seymour has a lot going on mentally.

Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” highlights the prevalent issue of PTSD in today’s society, as currently 8 million adults suffer from PTSD in the United States alone (Reisman 623). This suggests that there needs to be a stronger focus on finding an effective treatment, as from Salinger’s era to present day a large percentage of PTSD patients, including many war veterans, are still committing suicide. Through Seymour Glass’s character, Salinger expresses his concerns for the need to address the treatment of those suffering from PTSD, as people’s lives are at stake. Seymour’s PTSD is caused by the loss of his innocence in the war and his PTSD shows itself mostly in the form of him not being able to communicate properly with other characters. His inability to properly communicate with his wife and others, including doctors, puts him at a disadvantage in society, which thrives on communication. He most likely is unable to properly explain what is going on with him and what is wrong; the only people he can truly communicate with is children. Seymour having lost his innocence in the war and then not being able to find any innocence in the world after that, is what ultimately led to his suicide. He left Sybil on the beach, clearly upset, and had an outburst in the elevator right before taking his own life. With those two concepts in mind, one can see the way that PTSD can alter the mind of someone who was perfectly sane before, and it stresses the importance of increasing the efforts to try and find a much more effective method of not only treating it, but properly diagnosing it.

 