J.D Salinger’s story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” was published in 1948 at a time where veterans were just coming back from World War II. Doctors were just beginning to understand the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, so society was not well educated on the disorder. Many people were just beginning to familiarize and understand the effect of fighting in the war can have on veterans. This was also during the period of the boom generation, when society became caught up in the idea of having materialistic things and being high up in social status. In Salinger's story, Seymour Glass, a veteran who just got back from his service in World War II, struggles with mental illness while vacationing with his wife in Florida. Because of his traumatic experiences in the war, he has a greater understanding of life and can recognize the superficiality and materialism of the world around him. He struggles to communicate efficiently with those around him because no one can understand his perspective on life. The only way he can efficiently and comfortably communicate is through the innocence of children around him. In “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” Seymour’s desire to return to his innocence creates a division of his two worlds; adulthood and childhood, but because he is unable to fully connect to both worlds he ultimately causes his own demise.

Seymour desires to regain his innocence and retreat to his childhood because he wants to erase his memories and knowledge of the harsh darkness of the world, more specifically the hardships he witnessed during the war. He craves the simple minded, and blissful knowledge of a child because they are ignorant to all dangers of the world. His desire of innocence is shown through his childlike interactions with a four-year-old named Sybil on the beach in Florida. While playing in the water Seymour "suddenly picked up one of Sybil's wet feet, which were drooping over the end of the float, and kissed the arch" (10). This demonstrates Seymour's reverence and desperate infatuation for the incorruption of the youth. He continues to interact with her and even makes up an imaginary, childlike story of a "bananafish". When Sybil says "I just saw [a bananafish]"(10), validates that she is able to see the world like him which shows that Seymour is able to express himself and participate in life with Sybil because she can understand Seymour in a way adults in his life cannot.

Although he temporarily finds a connection in the world with Sybil, he inevitably self isolates himself from reality that he must, by social standards, belong to; the painful truths of adulthood. During adult social events Murial, his wife, tells her mom on the phone that Seymour is always sitting alone at the piano. When asked if “Seymour's been sick or something.” (5) Murial responds, “I guess because he’s so pale and all” (5). Nobody understands Seymour’s mental condition which makes him unable to connect to adults. Even his wife is incapable of understanding the discomfort her husband is going through. Not only is he mentally isolated but he as well feels physically uncomfortable around adults to a point that hides his body because "he doesn't want a lot of fools looking at his tattoo"(5). He only undresses in front of Sybil, a comfort zone, showing that he resents adulthood. 

Even though Seymour finds temporary happiness and purity through the stories he tells Sybil, he cannot change the fact that he has a mind of an adult no matter how hard he tries to neglect reality. He realizes this through a conversation in the elevator with a woman when he says “I see you're looking at my feet" She responds, “I beg your pardon. I happened to be looking at the floor,"(10). This conversation represents the division of his two worlds because this behavior would be acceptable around children but unacceptable around adults. He is immediately reminded of the shallow and materialistic adult world that he belongs too and acknowledges that he cannot regain his innocence and act like he did on the beach. When he becomes aware that he is unable to cope with the reality of not fully connecting to childhood nor adulthood, "He...aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet." (11). His acknowledgement to his loss of innocence drastically separates him from adulthood that he feels he has no other choice then to kill himself.

Through “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Salinger is trying to express the trauma and mental disabilities that veterans could not escape after the war. Salinger is trying to convey to the readers how change in environment can drastically effect one’s mentality. Many of his other stories like “Catcher in the Rye” are coming of age novels unusually about a protagonist undergoing a traumatic transition. Through Salinger’s writing he expresses the difficulties of adjusting to a new environment just like Seymour was unable to adjust to his society after the fighting in the war.