“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is a story of isolation that is exemplified by a common problem among its characters: communication. Muriel and her mother’s phone conversation, Seymour’s actions and interactions with other characters, and the lack of interaction between Seymour and Muriel illustrate the difficulty and lack of communication. This reoccurring struggle supports and contributes to the theme of isolation, in particular Seymour isolating himself from normal society. By looking at how the characters struggle with talking and connecting with one another, we can better understand how and why Seymour separates himself from others.

The story starts off with a phone call between Muriel and her mother, but it is hardly a conversation; the dialogue is haphazard and jumpy, quickly switching from topic to topic and never really going in-depth on any subject. The mother keeps interrupting Muriel, asking if she is really fine, and is not really listening to her daughter’s assurances. Muriel ignores her mother’s concerns and switches to lighter topics like the hot weather or fashion. This lack of listening and communicating illustrates the shallowness of Muriel’s thinking and how unaware and oblivious she is of the severity of Seymour’s mental state. She does not understand, or refuses to see, how disturbed Seymour is, and this puts a bock in their relationship.

Seymour has difficulty in properly communicating within normal society. Instead of talking and interacting with Muriel or other adults, he seeks to be by himself, playing the piano or lying on the beach, or hanging out with children. Seymour preferring to be by himself is an explicit example from the text of him isolating himself. His interaction with the child, Sybil, is the only real communication we see between Seymour and another character, and most of the dialogue consists of childlike chatter and the disturbing story of the bananafish. While Seymour is not actually physically isolating himself, his interaction with Sybil does not go into any sort of depth, nor does it have value as an intellectual conversation. This exemplifies how he is mentally isolating himself. The only other dialogue Seymour has with another character is with the woman in the elevator, in which Seymour is complaining about the woman staring at his feet. This brief and odd interaction not only shows how Seymour has trouble in fitting in with normal society, but perhaps also how he does not want to be seen by others. The woman gets out of the elevator, an case of Seymour repelling other people, pushing them away, and isolating himself from normal society.

Even though they are married and should be rather close, Seymour and Muriel have an incredible lack of communication. They do not have any dialogue in the story, which is significant because it shows how isolated Seymour has become from her. Muriel does not know what is going on and she does not understand the severity of Seymour’s mental state, while Seymour is not putting effort into communicating or explaining himself to her. The biggest effort Seymour makes to communicate is when he gives Muriel a book of poetry:

“[H]e asked me about it, when we were driving down. He wanted to know if I'd read it."

 "It was in German!"

 "Yes, dear. That doesn't make any difference," said the girl, crossing her legs. "He said that the poems happen to be written by the only great poet of the century. He said I should've bought a translation or something. Or learned the language, if you please."

By giving her a book in a language she does not understand, it is shown that Seymour does not want to be understood. He is isolating himself from Muriel by making communication between the two of them very difficult if not impossible. Of course, it could also show that Muriel was not putting enough effort into trying to communicate and understand him. But Seymour does not want to be understood, he does not want Muriel to really see what is going on inside his head, otherwise he would just talk to her. The only form of communication we see between the two of them is when Seymour commits suicide at the end of the story. He does not do it in private; he intentionally does it while he and Muriel are on vacation together. While this is not dialogue, it is still a type of communication and it is the act that truly isolates Seymour forever. 

None of the characters really communicate or understand each other in “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, Seymour most of all. He wants to isolate himself and he does so physically and by making communication with him difficult. Perhaps by sending messages, like trying to crash into a tree or giving Muriel a German poetry book, he thinks that Muriel will understand his mental state and what is going on with him inside his head, but we can see from Muriel’s conversation with her mother that she is oblivious and her communication skills are lacking. By killing himself, Seymour does two things: he sends an undeniable message to Muriel, something that she has to recognize, and he isolates himself from the entire world forever.

 