An Analysis of the Causes of Seymour's Suicide in Salinger's “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”

Abstract The aim of this thesis is to analyse the causes of Seymour’s suicide in Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”。 Jerome David Salinger is good at depicting adolescents who suffer from war-related trauma and precocious children, and Seymour is one of his typical characters。 Somehow, Seymour’ s suicide still remains mysterious in spite of the existing researches。 The present thesis seeks to ascribe it to the conflict between Seymour’s character and the society。 Seymour knows he can’t change the materialistic society but to accept it。 In fact, he has tried hard to build the connection with people around him but failed — the intelligent, poetic, sensitive and alienated Seymour is doomed to be incompatible with society。 Once he adapted himself to society, he would become another bananafish and compel himself to abandon his spiritual pursuit and immerse himself in the secular world。 Suicide is not the end of Seymour’s life but a way for him to attain nirvana。 Through the analyse of this subject, we can also see Salinger’s attitude towards death and life。 85434

Keywords: Salinger; suicide; character; society; bananafish

塞林格《逮香蕉鱼的最佳日子》中西蒙自杀原因的分析

摘  要

本篇论文的目的主要是探讨塞林格的短篇小说《逮香蕉鱼的最佳日子》中男主人公西蒙自杀的原因。杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格最擅长的就是描述那些在战争中受到精神创伤的年轻人和那些早慧的儿童。而西蒙塞林格的所有作品中具有代表性的人物。但是，尽管已经有研究，西蒙的自杀仍是未解之谜。通过深入的阅读和对其他研究资料的比较分析，本篇论文试图把原因归因于西蒙的性格和整个社会的不可兼容造成了他的自杀。西蒙知道自己没有能力改变这个物欲横流的社会而只能改变自己去接受它。他曾经尝试过通过与周围的人建立联系来适应这个社会，但他的早慧和诗性，他的疏离和敏感注定了他没办法和社会相容。一旦他融入这个社会，他就会像故事里的香蕉鱼一样再也没有办法逃离，他就得强迫自己放弃精神上的追求，一直活在世俗生活中。西蒙的死并没有意味着他生命的结束，而是他生命的升华。从中我们也可以窥见塞林格对死亡的态度和对生命的思考。来自优W尔Y论W文C网WWw.YoueRw.com 加QQ7520,18766

毕业论文关键词：塞林格； 自杀； 性格； 社会； 香蕉鱼

Contents

1。 Introduction 1

1。1 Purpose of the Thesis 1

1。2 A Brief Introduction of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” 2

1。3 Different Academic Views on the Causes of Seymour's Suicide 2

1。4 My View of Seymour's Suicide 3

2。 Seymour's Character 5

2。1 Seymour’s Character as Described in the Narration 5

2。1。1 Intelligent 5

2。1。2 Poetic 6

2。1。3 Alienated 7

2。2 Seymour’s Character as Seen by the People around Him 7

2。2。1 Raving Maniac 8

2。2。2 Sensitive 8

3。 The Materialistic Society that Disagrees with Seymour 10

3。1 The Social Background of the Story