WA 8

Cassie Stumer
4/14/08
Block E
Writing Assignment 8

For my thesis paper on J.D. Salinger, I want to try to explore the different reoccurring themes in the three novels I read. I also want to delve into some information regarding Salinger himself. I feel there will be many interesting parallels between Salinger himself, and the actions of his characters. Lastly, I would like to address Salinger’s unique and almost esoteric writing style, which I feel is critical in understanding his works.
There are many different reoccurring themes Salinger explores throughout his novels. One idea Salinger grapples with, is the concept of the struggling youth. In almost all of his works, Salinger’s protagonists are young people coping with the flaws of society. In Franny and Zooey, The two main characters are constantly struck down and bewildered by less than understanding or competent adults as they try to understand topics like religion, ego, and society. Salinger seems to touch upon the idea that the youth are usually in the right more than once. He often shows the parental figures as shady, uncaring, superficial, and thoughtless. This is a theme I will have to explore further to go in depth about, but I feel it is an important theme in Salinger’s works.
Salinger himself is also a topic of interest to me, and I plan to go in depth about much of his life in my thesis paper. J.D Salinger is famously reclusive and little is known about his life. I plan to learn more about Salinger’s fascinating life by reading Paul Alexander’s Salinger, a biography that Salinger himself is said to be uneasy about. I’m also interested in reading Joyce Maynard’s biography, which spills many details about Salinger’s very private life. Joyce Maynard’s biography on Salinger was “arguably revengeful”, and many people saw the biography as an attempt for Maynard to boost her own fame as a writer after a failed relationship with Salinger himself. I feel that learning more about Salinger will allow me to understand his characters more, and there are sure to be parallels between Salinger’s life and the actions of many of his similarly reclusive characters. I’m positive the parallel between Holden Caulfield and Salinger will be undeniable.
Lastly, I want to mention Salinger’s unique writing style in my thesis paper. Salinger uses letters, diary entries, and other interesting techniques that set his writing apart from other classic works. I also found it interesting that Salinger would often re-use the same characters in different stories and novels. For example, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”, from Nine Stories, is a beautiful short story that goes into detail about Seymour, Franny and Zooey’s late brother. It is mentioned in Franny and Zooey that Seymour killed himself in a hotel room. “Bananafish” is the story of that incident. Even though the two stories can be read separately and understood, the mixture of characters throughout is very personalized, and a unique characteristic in Salinger’s writing.
Moreover, I have much work to do on my thesis paper, but I feel I have the main ideas of my paper outlined well enough to begin.