In the story “A Perfect Day for Banana fish”, Seymour, the man who had just returned from war and his girlfriend, Muriel, go on a vacation. Throughout the story Muriel’s mother is extremely worried about her taking this trip with Seymour because she could tell something was not right about him but Muriel is in denial, she feels that Seymour was fine. "’Muriel. My word of honor. Dr. Sivetski said Seymour may completely lose contr—‘" (Muriel’s mother p. 3). He has seen a doctor back home, Muriel’s parents talked to him and they know he is sick. She feels this way even though there were plenty of signs that Seymour may be experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, he is not the same man that he was when he left and she knows it but does not want to admit it. His incident with the car crash, how he is extremely insecure about his scar and about his feet when he thinks the lady in the elevator is starring at them. Also the incident with the little girl, he could not hold a full conversation even though he was only talking to a young girl, and talked about the banana fish going into their hole and coming out and never being the same. This could be a metaphor for him going into the war and when he came back he just was not the same person as when he left.  It was pretty obvious that this man was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder as seen through multiple situations, it was eating away at him and he did not know how to deal with it. 

The first incident that comes up in the story is told from Muriel’s mother while she is calling her because she is so worried about her. She tells us about how Seymour had crashed his car while driving simply because he zoned out staring at the trees along the side of the road. He had lost focus while driving and had most likely began to think about his previous experiences, possibly reliving his time at war which is very common in people that are battling PTSD. Another time that could have symbolized his PTSD and reliving his war experience could have been when he shows how insecure he is. From what was said before, he is insecure about the scars that he most likely received at war, he may have wanted to hide them because if anybody tried to talk to him about them or bring them up in any way it could have brought back some bad memories. If he was able to keep them covered and keep anybody from seeing them or even himself from seeing them it can help keep him from thinking about it, with people suffering from this disease when they see, hear, or smell something that could remind them of the bad times it can cause them to remember and relive the experience. 

The most significant symbol that was talked about in the story was when Seymour is talking to the little girl about the banana fish. “’They're very ordinary looking fish when they swim in. But once they get in, they behave like pigs’” (Seymour p. 8). Sybil is trying to describe what war does to people, as he continues to tell the little girl about the banana fish he tells her about how they go into these holes to eat and can never get out. “’Naturally, after that they're so fat they can't get out of the hole again. Can't fit through the door’” (Seymour p. 8).  That was most likely him describing to her how he felt, how he went into war and now that he is back he does not feel like the same person who had left, he does not feel as though he has gotten out of the hole, that he is stuck there forever. This was the first time he had shared with anybody what he was feeling, although he did not say it directly he was able to describe it in a different way. The only thing was that he was talking to a young child, many experiencing PTSD are not able to communicate with family and other loved ones about how they are feeling which is most likely why Seymour was telling this to a child who could not understand what he was talking about. It was easier for him to talk to a child than an adult.

At the end of the story we find out that Seymour commits suicide, it showed that all of the little things that had occurred during the story were showing signs of PTSD. He actually foreshadows this during his conversation with the little girl, she asks him what happens to the banana fish when they cannot get out of their holes and he tells her that they just die. He is telling her that feeling this way, being in this “hole” where he cannot get back into society is too much for him. Just a little before this, the incident with the lady in the elevator had occurred, when he thought that she was staring at his feet but really she could have just been looking at the ground, or just in that general direction. He got extremely insecure and freaked out on her. "’I have two normal feet and I can't see the slightest God-damned reason why anybody should stare at them’" (Seymour p. 9).  This was the last straw, it seems that after talking to the little girl about how he was feeling, like someone who does not belong, he was so fed up that anything that happened next could put him over the edge. He shot himself in the head in the same room that his girlfriend was sleeping in at the time. 

Throughout the time that is shown in the story there are many events that symbolize what Seymour is going through. From him crashing the car, his insecurity, and his metaphor with the banana fish. He shows that he is unable to deal with this disease on his on and needs to talk to somebody about it who is not a young child, but someone that can help him. He is unable to get the help he needs and winds up killing himself instead. 