Communication is an essential part of everyday life, it is what allows humans to convey their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Even more so, proper communication is integral to maintaining relationships, both business and personal. Time and time again the human race has been witness to tragedies that could have been avoided if proper communication had been assimilated; one of which was the Hyatt Regency walkway disaster. The design company that created the concept of “floating walkways” that were suspended from the ceiling, was insistent on its design, so insistent that they ignored the warnings and suggestions of the involved engineering and architectural companies and proceeded as planned. Due to this imbalance of communication, in 1981 the walkway collapsed; one hundred people died and an estimated two hundred people were injured. While this is an extreme example of miscommunication, it shows the fatal consequences that can occur because of it. While some tragedies as mentioned above can affect hundreds of people, there are times when poor communication affects only a handful of people, and the end still results in the same misfortune. In Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, a young man named Seymour Glass faces his own mental challenges after returning from war. He is unable to properly communicate with the ones around him, including his own wife. The only person he appears to be able to come close to opening up to is a young girl staying at the same hotel named Sybil Carpenter. Lack of proper communication between individuals and the ones around them can lead to irreversible circumstances, as seen by Seymour’s untimely suicide in Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.”

The relationship between Seymour and Muriel Glass is fragile. There are several reasons why this could be and also several ways to interpret their relationship. One of which is that Muriel is simply ignorant to her husband’s condition. While her mother constantly berates her with questions about her wellbeing, Muriel consistently answers “I’m fine” (Salinger 3). With the way she says this and it being her steady answer there are two ways to analyze Muriel’s intentions. Either she truly is unaware of what her husband is going through, or it is possible that she is emotionally drained with her life and is deliberately keeping her mother in the dark about her situation with Seymour. This seems more likely than the previous suggestion because of the closed off attitude she exhibits towards her mother on the phone. There is also the possibility that Muriel realizes that something is wrong, but chooses to ignore it. She appears to be intelligent enough to catch on to what is happening to her husband, so the idea that she simply decides to disregard it. Along the line of overlooking Seymour’s condition, it is also a possibility that Muriel believes if she ignores what is happening to her husband, everything will return to the way it was before the war. From Seymour’s point of view of the situation at hand, it is possible that he wants to communicate with his wife, or anyone for that matter, but is unsure how to approach her. While away at war, he sent his wife a book full of German poetry, and insisted that Muriel find a way to read them. "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" (Salinger 4). It is evident by these myriad of possibilities that the relationship between Seymour and Muriel Glass is anything but stable. There is a subsequent amount of lack of communication between them, and it was most likely a major contributing factor in Seymour’s suicide. If they would have been able to resolve their matters with a better sense of communication, Seymour could have had a more appropriate ending. 

While Seymour obviously has a considerably hard time communicating with adults and medical professionals, he appears to have no issues talking to small children. While on his vacation with his wife Seymour builds a friendship with young Sybil Carpenter. While spending time with her on the beach Seymour tells Sybil the story of the bananafish. He explains that the bananafish is lured into a cave that contains bananas, and then eats them. However, the bananafish eats so many pieces of the fruit that it becomes stuck in the cave to die. Metaphorically speaking, Seymour is the bananafish. He had become so full of the war and his life that he is trapped and on the verge of death. He begins to explain how bananafish change, stating that “They're very ordinary looking fish when they swim in. But once they get in, they behave like pigs” (Salinger 8). This translates to Seymour talking about himself, and how he has changed after acting savagely in the war. He tells this to Sybil because he knows that she will not understand what he is trying to tell her because she is so young. The most prominent possibility however is that he talks to her because he is hesitant to open up to someone his age, or a medical professional because he is afraid of what they will think of him. 

Seymour’s untimely death due to lack of communication with the proper people in Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is evidence of how irreversible consequences can result from failure to connect with the ones around you. Salinger’s story can be taken as a lesson, to pay attention to the ones around you and to reach out when you are in turmoil. He is showing what could potentially happen if the appropriate action is not taken. While Seymour and his loved ones had an unfortunate outcome, this story makes the reader think about the most fitting way to communicate with the ones around them so they ultimately do not have the same conclusion.