
A Perfect Day for Bananafish, is a story written by J.D. Salinger about a man (Seymour Glass) and his wife (Muriel glass), who vacation in Florida after Seymour’s return from war (WWII). Seymour is battling with PTSD and even though it is not apparent to the other characters, his internal struggle is evident to us. Through out this story we see how Salinger uses communication and actions between different characters to represent the stages and of Seymour’s life before and after the war. The three relationships we see are between Seymour and Muriel, Sybil the little girl, and the lady in the elevator that Seymour encountered. Muriel and Seymour have horrible communication that is apparent during Muriel’s phone call with her mother. The absent and negligent communication between the two represents Seymour’s life now, devoid of hope. Muriel is a reminder of the horrible change he went through after the war and everything that he lost. The relationship between Sybil and Seymour is effortless and simple. In this story Sybil is characterized by her youth and represents Seymour’s old life and the innocence he once had but longs for. Lastly we have the relationship between the woman in the elevator and Sybil. The communication is aggressive and eye opening. It represents the last straw and Seymour coming to terms with himself and the realization that he is not able to cope with reality.

The relationship and communication between Muriel and Seymour is representative of his life after the war. There isn’t any communication between the two just like how there isn't any connection between Seymour and his life before the war. In the dialogue between Muriel and her mother, it is evident that Muriel thinks that Seymour is fine even though we can pick up on different phrases that imply that there is something deeply wrong with Seymour. For one instance, Muriels mother tells her what one of Seymours doctors said while muriel just blows it off, "Well. In the first place, he said it was a perfect crime the Army released him from the hospital—my word of honor. He very definitely told your father there's a chance--a very great chance, he said--that Seymour may completely lose control of himself. My word of honor." This relationship that Salinger displays is one of the ways that Salinger uses people and communication to represent the different phases of Seymour’s life.

The communication between Sybil and Seymour is representative of his life before the war. Sybil is innocent, pure, and young which reminds Seymour of the life he once had, the communication is so simple and easy because Seymour feels at home in the world of this child because he can escape the real world that involves adulthood. Sybil is the only person that Seymour is able to speak about what is going on with himself indirectly when he says “ You just keep your eyes open for any banana fish, this is a perfect day for banana fish”. I think that Seymour was attempting to communicate with Sybil and relate himself to the banana fish. The fish eat so much in the hole that they become too fat to leave the whole and they die, but they are happy right before they die. Seymour was happy with Sybil right before he left and killed himself, just as the banana fish. This is one of the ways that Salinger uses communication to represent phases in Seymour’s life.

Finally, the last person whose communication with Seymour is representative of his life is  the Woman that Seymour encountered on the elevator. When Seymour steps into the elevator after coming from the beach with Sybil he immediately turns from calm and relaxed to aggressive and hostile. He says to the woman in the elevator “I see you’re looking at my feet” and when she denies looking at his feet and says that she “happened to be looking at the floor”, Seymour replies with “ If you want to look at my feet, say so, but don't be a God-damned sneak about it.” In this quick encounter we see how volatile Seymour is and how quickly his mental state can change. Seymour is no longer able to function in the real world and he comes to accept his reality and decides to end his life.

In A Perfect Day for Banana fish, J.D Salinger uses communication and relationships between characters to represent the stages of Seymour Glass’ life. Muriel Glass represents the present, and all of the changes and loss of innocence that came with WWII, Sybil represents youth, innocence, and the life that Seymour had before the war, and the Woman in the elevator is representative of Seymour glass finally coming to terms with his mental state and health.