The title of the story reflects the story well and that is the ability of being unpredictable. When I first read A Perfect Day for Bananafish, I had no clue what to expect because it is not a commonly used phrase or statement. Even when I started to get the context of the story, the unexpected still happened and it left me, as the reader, in awe. Furthermore, the abnormal behavior shown by Seymour made it very easy to understand why he was portrayed as mentally unstable. Lastly, the issues that Seymour faced most likely led to his suicide. The actions that he took into doing so did not seem to be the typical way of ending your own life. Seymour’s world view was skewed because of the war which resulted in his creation of stories and words such as “Bananafish.” 

One of the things that I noticed about Seymour was his reference to his wife as “the girl.” Normally, someone in an intimate relationship would call their significant other by their name or something with an emotional attachment. Seymour gave her pet names that were not really pet names. One of those, “Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948” (4), displays his detachment from Mrs. Glass. The war could have impacted his way of approaching her emotionally which disrupted their partnership. Muriel’s mother showed consistent concern for her daughter which lead me to believe that her husband was a dangerous man. She also did not agree with the names that he calls her. “It’s horrible. It’s sad, actually” (4) was stated by her mother when she found out about her daughter’s nickname. 

The Bananafish holds a very strong presence throughout the story which ties to the symbolism presented with Seymour. As a war veteran, he has seen so many things that the average civilian does not normally see. Seymour has also had to perform actions that are not required to be done in civilian life such as getting shot at and taking the lives of our enemies. The story he told Sybil about the Bananafish and its eating habits refers to the way his life is set up. The Bananafish goes into the banana hole and eats until it cannot fit through the entrance of the habitat. Since it is trapped, it cannot leave the hole so it dies. Seymour has seen so much in his time in the war that it has him mentally trapped in his issues that it has brought on to him. These issues led to personality changes and the eventual suicide that has probably plagued his mind for a while. 

Lastly, there are issues that I observed about this story that was written during the 1940s that still happen today. One of those issues would be communication. In the beginning of the story, Muriel and her mother didn’t communicate with each other, everything was projected at each other. Instead of talking and agreeing or trying to understand one’s point of view, they were both quick to their defense of why they said something the reasons behind their actions. Seymour never communicates with Muriel which questions their relationship again. If they are not speaking on an even level, Muriel will not know what’s going on with Seymour. But Seymour does not relay his issues to Muriel so there is a lapse in the relationship. Seymour, does however speak to Sybil as if there were no cares in the world. He relates to the child more than the adults and it leads the reader to believe that adults treat him as if he were a child because of his issues from the war. Sybil’s innocence to the world gives Seymour the escape he needs to speak out. He didn’t feel pressured to talk to Sybil even though they didn’t have anything special to talk about. Just the fact that he had someone that wasn’t trying to fix him that helped him feel comfortable enough to talk.  Another issue would be the mental instability that Seymour endured post-war. The reference to him playing piano could be his coping method to feeling alone. “She may be in any one of a thousand places. At the hairdresser’s. Having her hair dyed mink. Or making dolls for poor children, in her room” (6). After Seymour stated this, the notion that he felt like he didn’t have anyone to talk to may have played a large role in his suicide. His vision of the world was ultimately skewed resulting from the war which relates back to my thesis of his reasoning for being mentally unstable. 
