Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger. Cycle 18 Reading Response, Pages 47 -69

In this selection, we meet the rest of the Glass family (Franny is the youngest daughter). Zooey is now the protagonist. After learning general things about the family, he reads a letter his older brother Buddy sent to him. In this letter, Buddy discusses his hopes for Zooey. 

esoteric: "...we speak a kind of esoteric, family language..." (p. 49) adj, intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest 

esprit: "...was an authentic esprit superimposed over his entire face..." (p. 52) noun, the quality of being lively, vivacious, or witty

aplomb: " ...managed to answer over the air a prodigious number of alternately deadly-bookish and deadly-cute questions...with a freshness, an aplomb, that was considered unique..." (p. 53) noun, self-confidence or assurance, esp. when in a demanding situation

remonstrative: "The letter itself was virtually endless in length, over-written, ...remonstrative, ... and filled, to a surfeit, with affection." (p. 56) adj, protesting forcefully and reproachfully 

aesthetes: "The cards are stacked...against all professional aesthetes..." (p. 59) adj, a person (people) who has (have) or affects to have a special appreciation of art and beauty

amalgam: "...you'll be as victimized as the next young actor into contributing to the reliable Hollywood amalgam of prizefighter and mystic...." (p. 60) noun, a mixture or blend

sonority: "Forgive the pessimism, if not the sonority." (p. 61) noun, the quality or face of being imposingly deep and full

masochistic: "Which would have been masochistic ecstasy for me, probably." (p. 67) adj, having the tendency to derive pleasure from one's own pain or humiliation

The Glass family is more complicated that we were shown in Franny. Seven children are all quite intelligent and impressive. With such incredible children, I wonder who their parents were. Were they also smart and articulate? Were they supportive? Did they not care how their children did, but only cared about them being happy? 

Maybe the parents of the Glass children were very relaxed and not quite as brilliant as their children. It would be hard for them to teach their children. Their children were years beyond others in terms of intellect. They would have done their best to be supportive in whatever way they could be. Perhaps they arranged their appearances on the children's quiz show, "It's a Wise Child" where they had an incredible span of 16 years of performances. Maybe they couldn't help their children prepare intellectually for these quizzes, but they could help them find which clothes to wear. 

I think this is underestimating the Glass children's parents. In my mind, I see them as smart as well. Maybe not as smart as their children, but still close. The Glass children seem to be effortlessly smart. They don't spend time studying a lot, but they enjoy learning. Studying and learning are two different things. Learning comes naturally, so I think the Glass children learn rather than study. Their smarts must come from their parents

The parents of these children must be dedicated. Raising 7 children is no small feat. The age difference between Seymour, their oldest, and Franny, their youngest, is almost 18 years. Let's say that they had Seymour when they were both 20. Mr. and Mrs. Glass would have had Franny when they were 38. Franny would have left for college when they were about 56, if she went to college when she was 18. Their children don't seem like low-maintenance children. Whether or not it was their fault, they would worry about their children. 

A cause of a lot of the problems in the family seem to not be caused by the parents. The parents seem supportive, caring, and quite worried about their children. A tragedy struck their family. Seymour, the oldest, committed suicide while he was vacationing in Florida with his wife. This book takes place in 1955, about 7 years after this happened. Another brother died as well. Walt, one of the twins, died during the American occupation of Japan. He was the first child to die, about 3 years before Seymour committed suicide. Both deaths affected the family, but Seymour's death was more troubling. Walt's death was an accident. It was part of his job. The family was ready for it and was able to prepare themselves. Seymour's death seems unexpected. He was only about 31. He took away the rest of his life. He left his wife and any children he had, if he had any. He left his other family as well. His parents and 5 living siblings were left to deal with the suicide. Closure is important. Maybe, what everyone in the family needed was to talk to Seymour. To have him explain or at least say good-bye to him would have provided closure and helped them to deal with his death. Since this did not happen, they were left to put together the pieces. 

The two people we hear from in this novel are Franny and Zooey. They have dealt with them in very different ways.

Franny was 13 when Seymour died. This is a rough time for anyone, even without a suicide in the family. Franny would probably still be close to her parents, especially with her being the youngest child and the baby of the family, and it probably helped her. At this time in anyone's life, things are changing, but it's not too late to grow and learn from the challenges. Zooey, on the other hand, was 18. He would not have been living at home. There was no safety net, like his parents, in place to catch him as he fell when Seymour committed suicide. At this age, he was past the phase in teenage years where he could recover from crises, since he was sort of defined as a person, so that they would not harm his psyche. He was lost in life. As we hear through Buddy, who heard from a gossipy acquaintance, Zooey has been spending 10 hours in meditation at a time. Through those hours, he must thinking about why Seymour stopped his life, and what he will do with his own life to keep it going. Maybe it's not directly caused by Seymour's death, but his death did cause problems with his personality and created self-doubt. Since Zooey doubts himself, he isn't living up to his full potential. He isn't doing the best at what he wants to do in life. 

I think everyone in the family is worried about Zooey. Buddy definitely is, as we read in the letter he sent to Zooey. Explicitly, he says that Zooey worries the hell out of him. The letter itself shows concern. It was written at the urging of their mother, who was probably tired of being the only person who is doing anything to try to help Zooey. Not only are they worried about Zooey getting past the troubles that seem to have been started by Seymour's suicide, but I think they are also worried about Zooey doing something like that to himself. They see Zooey walking the same path that Seymour did. "After Seymour, Zooey, the youngest boy in the family, is generally placed second in order of preference, or appeal." (p. 54) Both of them were brilliant. We don't know exactly why Seymour took his life, but maybe it was out of frustration. He was frustrated with where he was going and with what he wasn't doing. Zooey is sort of experiencing the same things. He has so many talents and so many wants, and also gets very frustrated when things are mediocre or don't meet his very high standards and demands. The worry about Zooey is warranted. Maybe the family feels that, especially since they couldn't do anything to help Seymour, they must do more to help Zooey. For right now, what they are doing is worrying. We'll have to see whether this hurts or helps him in the next pages. 

Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger. Cycle 17 Reading Response, Pages 3-43

I read the part of the book entitled Franny this cycle. Franny arrives in the town where her boyfriend, Lane, is attending college. From the moment she gets off the train, there is an underlying tension and uneasy feeling between them. They go to eat at Sickler's, a restaurant that the more intellectual college students frequent. Lane notices that Franny isn't herself. Their conversation is uncomfortable and full of disagreements. Franny gets up to use the bathroom, but faints before she gets there. Lane and the bartender carry her to a hospital, where she regains consciousness.

commodious: "...appeared to be hardly less commodious." (p. 21) adj, roomy and comfortable
cavilling: "It sounded to her cavilling and bitchy..." (p. 24) adj, made petty or unnecessary objections

nymphomaniac: "...that he's a bastard or a nymphomaniac or takes dope all the time, or something horrible." (p. 25) noun, one possessing uncontrollable or excessive sexual desire

starets: "Then he meets this person called a starets..." (p. 33) noun, highly advanced religious person

Like the other work of J.D. Salinger that I have read, The Catcher in the Rye, I liked this piece. Time changes people. Distance and separation changes people. When Franny and Lane finally see each other, they realize that both have acted upon their relationship. The story starts with Lane waiting at the Train Station, with one of the manifestations of his relationship with Franny, a letter. This letter is described in this sentence. "It had a handled, unfresh look, as if it had been taken out of its envelope and read several times before." (p. 4) Days since it has arrived, he has already taken it out and studied it. He reads imagining Franny sitting at her typewriter in her noisy dorm, the keys clacking as she types out their little correspondence. She thanks him for the letter that he wrote to her, the one that she just received. There are little mistakes, but they just remind Lane of Franny. Now he sees that she's a little flustered, that the dorm setting. But he keeps reading, and he sees that, even in this distracting environment, she sits down and types what she thinks. I think that correspondence is one part of their relationship. The writer gets to write whatever he or she wants, and the reader gets to read whatever he or she wants. This alley of communication allows Lane and Franny to fill in gaps. They can think whatever they want. They have words staring them in the face, not another person with feelings, emotions, and the capability to act. They can paint their own picture of what the relationship is, but it may not be a realistic one.

This is shown when they see each other. No more words written on paper, but words spoken in person. Now they have to face the facts, and face each other. Their relationship is not beyond repair, but there are cracks starting to show through. Franny's visit starts with tension. She's carrying a green book. Lane asks about it, but she doesn't answer. She dodges the question. If I were  Lane, this would definitely bother me. From the fully disclosing tone of the  letter and the way they think of each other, it seems that this is a very open relationship where they feel that they can tell each other anything. This is not the case any more. Franny is hiding something from Lane, and this sort of bothers him. What she is actually hiding may not be important at all, but the fact that she is hiding something bothers him. They find problems with each other as they talk and have dinner. With their open relationship, they don't hold too much back. Lane's food comes and Franny gets another cigarette out of her pack. "She had just brought her cigarette to her lips, but it had gone out. 'What'd you do with the matches?' she asked. Lane gave her a light when the waiter had gone. 'You smoke too much,' he said." (p. 26-17) He still lit her cigarette, even though he thinks that she should change. He cares about her enough to tell her that she should stop doing something, not not enough to stop her from doing it. This puts both of them at unease. Franny feels criticized and Lane feels worried and helpless. None of these are feelings that Franny and Lane should be feeling when they see each other. Franny has been going through difficult things. In her letter, she tells Lane about her dad's sickness. Her dad's health worries her and makes her feel ill as well. 

During their dinner, they talk about what Franny has been doing. Through the dinner, Franny doesn't feel to well. "She felt a faint wave of nausea, and looked up immediately and dragged on her cigarette." (p. 27) This culminates with her fainting. "She put her right hand on the bar, then lowered her head - bowed it - and put her left hand to her forehead, just touching it with the fingertips. She weaved a trifle, then fainted, collapsing to the floor." (p. 40-41) The story picks up again with Franny regaining consciousness five minutes after fainting and finding herself on a couch. As it turns out, the bartender and Lane carried her. She looks up to see Lane. "His face, suspended anxiously over hers, had a remarkable pallor of its own now." (p. 41) This is the third level of their relationship. They both care about each other, even after they have been arguing and not exactly getting along. Lane was probably more worried than anyone else was. He carried her, even after arguing with her about all the things they talked about during their dinner. Franny asks for a glass of water, but Lane goes above and beyond and also arranges a way for her to safely get back to where she's staying. He leaves her to help her, but his leaving leaves her alone and slightly scared. 

The relationship between Franny and Lane is imperfect, but it is a good, loving one. Their letters help them keep in contact when they are not with each other, but do not answer all of their questions. When they are together, they don't always get along. At the core of the relationship, under the arguments and letters, lies deep caring and concern for each other. Franny and Lane have a relationship that I think will last a long time. I guess I'll have to read the rest of the book to find out for sure.