
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 first relationship that we explore is between Muriel and Seymour, which 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. It is evident in the dialogue between muriel and her mother that there is something profoundly wrong with Seymour ) we are convinced at fist by muriel that there is in fact nothing wrong with Seymour, but it could be due to her indifference towards his problems, or their complete lack of communication. In one instance, Muriel’s mother tells her what one of Seymour’s 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" (Salinger). This relationship that Salinger displays is one of the ways she uses people and communication to represent the different phases of Seymour’s life, but another conversation we take a deeper look into is that of Seymour and Sybil Carpenter.

The communication between Sybil (the young girl on the beach vacationing with her mother) 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”. According to Seymour, banana fish are just normal fish until they swim into a hole and eat so many bananas that they contract “banana fever”, and aren't able to swim out of the hole. The irony in Seymour’s account of the Banana fish is that he is a direct representation of the fish himself. The fish die from overindulging in the Bananas and “die from excess of its own world”, just as Seymour spent his last few hours with Sybil in bliss then proceeds to kill himself because he isn't able to cope with the real world. I think that the deeper and larger meaning was Seymour attempting to communicate with Sybil and relate himself to these fish.This is another 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 ” (Salinger).  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.

Through out “ A Perfect Day For Bananafish, J.D. Salinger effectively uses a series of relationships and communication to represent different stages of the life of Seymour Glass, a soldier returning from war . The lost communication between Seymour and Muriel Glass represents the present, and all of the changes and loss of innocence that came with WWII. Sybil Carpenter represents youth, and the relationship between her and Seymour represent innocence, and the life that that he had before the war. The last relation ship that we evaluate is the one between the woman in the elevator and Seymour. It is representative of his fallout, and him finally coming to terms with his mental health and state.