Learn to Love the Lessors
Whenever one reads the news, good or bad, there is praise or criticism for
how the world is coming out. The nightly news can focus on a student who is ten
and already finished college, or it can focus on another student who was caught
with a gun. In both situations, how one was raised comes up into question.
Family rituals such as saying grace before a meal, can make people hesitate
before they eat for the rest of their life. Education plays a role for a long time as
well. A student who is reading works of the great philosophers by age six will
have a better understanding of the world, which might cause angst and disgust
with society or joy in their environment. In Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
two siblings are given an exceptional education by their older brothers, Seymour
and Buddy. Resentment is fabricated as the children now grown up, realize they
cannot relate to their surrounding world. Salinger writes about Franny and
Zooey, the youngest siblings of seven, in his novel. The younger Glass children
The Essay on Literary Analysis on Franny and Zooey
While everyone knows about Catcher, not many have read this other classic by J.D. Salinger. Franny and Zooey is a story about Franny Glass, a young college girl and her brother Zooey, an actor in his middle 20's. Like The Catcher in the Rye, a theme in this book is questioning people and the World Franny finds a new religious idea, which starts her wondering about life and what she should do with ...
are disgusted by society and try to turn to their own forms of religion to be able
to accept those people they deem phony.
Franny and Zooey are disgusted by a society that thrives for themselves
which they cannot relate. This is a view of the American Dream which is brought
forth by a vision of innocence and the reality of guilt (Hassan 259).
The contrast
between innocence and reality creates a great struggle between idealism and the
preventing authority. This struggle can lead the protagonist to madness and
suicide (Gross 263-4).
The reader sees this happen to Seymour Glass. Zooey
believes that because of the intellectual exposure that he received from his
brothers, he has been made a freak to society. Zooey confesses, “We’re freaks…
Those two bastards got us nice and early and made us into (people with)…
freakish standards. We’re the tattooed lady… never going to have a minute’s
peace, the rest of our lives, till everybody else is tattooed, too” (Salinger 139).
This demonstrates that Zooey cannot relate to other people, who are not tattooed
like himself.
Bessie’s observation on the unhappiness and anti-sociability of her
children gives the reader a better view point into her family. Only someone who
is part of the Glass children on a common basis would recognize and understand
thieir manner. She is very much part of the actual world (Magil 1806.) Her most
outstanding achievement, besides her vaudevillian career, is that she has raised
seven exceptional children. Bessie notes that her children’s education is
worthless if it does not make them happy. This is further proof that Bessie is very
much a member of the common world (Alsen 62.) She observes how Zooey
alienates the people he cannot relate to. She tells him “You make people
nervous… You either take to somebody or you don’t. If you do, then you do all
the talking and nobody can get in a word… if you don’t… you sit around like
death itself and let the person talk themselves into a hole” (Salinger 98.) Where
The Essay on The Percentage Of Overweight Children In Western Society
The percentage of overweight children in western society has increased by almost 20% in last ten years. Discuss the possible causes and effects of this disturbing trend and offer a solution. In modern life, the number of obese people in developed countries is increasing rapidly. More seriously, the majority of this problem is children. Some people think the rise of fast-food outlets is the main ...
Bessie’s greatest fault is that she tries to do what all other parents want to do,
she wants to fix Franny with chicken broth. She also relies on psychoanalysis to
cure Franny’s soul sickness (L. Unger 565).
Bessie also observes of her son that
Zooey “doesn’t know how to talk to people… (he doesn’t) like… (or) love…”
(Salinger 99.) Bessie Glass helps the reader know that there is a way to “decode”
the Glass children. This shows that she is not responsible for turning her
children into freaks, but she understands and can ignore urge to not conform.
Instead of conforming and wanting the same wants as their peers, Franny
and Zooey believe that they can find some better insight into the world. Their
brother, Seymour, dies so they can live. Seymour realizes that he has taken up
too much knowledge, and he is not fit to come back out into the world (Galloway
446).
The education he gave to his siblings was with the best intentions, but later
he realized what damage he had done. This catalyzes Franny and Zooey’s secret
society. This includes everyone but the creative types and professors. An
exception is made for their family members with college degrees and bookshelves
that indicate a “democratic culture” (McCarthy 34).
Exceptions such as these
make it difficult for the Glass’s to relate to anyone else, and especially those
outside their secret unphony society. Zooey expresses his hatred for the
intellectuals and literary scribes in the colleges. “Phooey, I say, on all white-shoe
college boys who edit their literary magazines. Give me and honest con man any
day” (Salinger 98).
This shows that Zooey does not want to conform to a society
with these desires and stereotypes. This also is a perfect definition of how the
Glass children, Franny and Zooey, want to separate themselves from their peers.
Franny explores the phoniness of the world and self, but these same
sources of insight and stability let her come to terms with herself and the world
The Essay on Society And Education People Educated Uneducated
Society sets up this imaginary brick wall in life in the mainstream population. On one side of the wall are the formally educated people that have attended everything from prestigious universities to liberal arts colleges. On the other side of the wall are the uneducated people who do not have a fancy name or degree to boldly say that they are educated in respects to society. Many times, the ...
(Unger 564).
Along with these terms she has realized that there is an ugliness in
the human ego. Franny states, “That’s why I quit the Theater Department. Just
because I’m so horribly conditioned to accept every body else’s values… I am
sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I’m sick of myself and
everybody else that wants to make some kind of splash” (Salinger 30).
This
indicates that Franny discovers the phoniness and ego in other people. She does
not want to develop an ego like her peers in the theater department.
Both Franny and Zooey turn to religion as a way to feel emotionally and
intellectually superior to their peers. One of the most unifying comments of all
critics is the relation to Zen in Franny and Zooey. In Zen Buddhism the life of the
mystic is only temporarily one of isolation for after achievement of satory (the
state of total enlightenment and consciousness) that the goal of Zen Buddhism is
finally realized. Then the enlightened man can re-enter society to perform good
works (Galloway 446).
Professor Daisets Suzuki of Colombia University was said
to have influenced Salinger greatly. Suzuki states, “..the basic idea of Zen is to
come in touch with the inner workings of being and to do this in the most direct
way possible without resorting to anything external or superadded… Zen is the
ultimate fact of all philosophy and religion” (Magill 2044).
These elements are
realized in Franny and Zooey which helps both of them turn to the reality. The
mysticism is treated as a “fever”, an isolating and unfruitful discipline that leads
man away from significant work (Galloway 445).
Franny experiences her “fever” in
Sticklers. She tries to snap out of it, but all she can do is isolate herself further.
In Franny and Zooey, the place of isolation is the family bathroom. Franny goes
into the ladies room at Stickers to cry and read the Jesus prayer. Zooey reads
his letter that Buddy wrote him hoping to be grounded by something and to find
a suggestion on what to tell his suffering sister (Geismar 94).
The Essay on Change People Person Love
My whole life has been presented to a single element called change. Change occurs in many different forms and is carried out in many different ways. However, just recently, I have come to the realization that change can be the deepest of all subjects. I always assumed that change occurred when you moved to a new town or when you lose someone close to you. Those are elements to change, yes, but ...
This also shows
that they are both looking for something to ground them. For Zooey he is reading
the letter to find something to help his sister, because the letter seems to help
him cope. Franny is unable to cope with the Jesus Prayer, because in reality she
is only doing it for selfish reasons.
In a society personified by her casually egotistical boyfriend, Lane Coutell,
Franny wants to keep her “spiritual integrity” and to live a spiritual life in this
conceited society (Magill 2044).
Zooey points out, “What do you think you’re
doing with the Jesus Prayer… You talk about piling up treasure– money property,
culture, knowledge… In going ahead with the Jesus Prayer… aren’t you trying to
lay up some kind of treasure… something that is just as negotiable as all those
other more material things? Or does the fact that it’s a prayer make it all the
difference” (Salinger 148.) Zooey clearly points out to Franny, by saying the
Jesus Prayer, Franny is trying to covet spiritual treasures for herself, same as the
disgusted with people and egoisms. Franny wants to not turn into the egotistical
people that she hates, but in order to do this she must learn to love them as well.
After Zooey tries to sympathize with Franny, he then attempts to convince his
sister that she is trying to see Christ directly and “lay up” spiritual treasures for
herself. She later bursts out into tears for what he says is too painful for her to
hear. Later Zooey suggests that she should try seeing Christ through ordinary
people (Magill 2044).
This story demonstrates Zooey’s supreme effort to help his sister cope with
a phony world. His undershirt becomes sweat drenched. Zooey understands
Franny’s anguish because he has traveled this road himself (L. Unger 564).
This
is a religious journey Zooey has made before. It is alluded in Buddy’s letter when
The Essay on A History of the World in 6 Glasses 2
In A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage informs readers on what he believes is to be the six beverages that has shaped our past, present, and future. The six drinks mentioned are beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. Within the chapters, Standage talks about each beverage and their origins, uses, and the overall impact they have made in the world. Although each beverage ...
he writes, “Although I did hear from a gossipy little snip in one of my classes that
you had a reputation in your college dorm for going off and sitting in meditation
for ten hours at a time…” (Salinger 66-7).
This shows that Zooey was affected by
spiritualism and the same questions that Franny has. When Zooey makes this
journey, which he does frequently. Zooey can return by his own strength. He
goes on his own religious pilgrimage or journey. Franny gets stuck trying to
return (L. Unger 566).
This also demonstrates how Zooey turned to religion to
find answers about his brother’s suicide and the questions about his education.
In reality this story is about two God-lovers learning to accept normal
unspiritual uninspired people (Alsen 57).
Zooey and Franny realize this almost
simultaneously when Zooey declares, “There isn’t anyone anywhere that isn’t
Seymour’s Fat Lady…. don’t you know who that Fat Lady really is?… Christ
himself…” (Salinger 202).
The Glass’s realize that they are equal to their selfish
peers, because they desire something more out of the world. This is similar to
how their phony people covet their material and intellectual possessions. The
Glass’s only love themselves and their family who are equally intellectually and
spiritually enlightened. They can only try to bring themselves to forgive the rest
of the world after condemning it. (Grunwald xix).
The three-martini snail eating
men such as Lane Coutell are no longer people but symbols. They are also
represented by the Fat Lady (Kazin 297).
The Glass’s do not understand how to
communicate with the outside world. The Glass family tries to ritually wash away
the world’s guilt, like the Christians and the Zen Buddhists did. This is compared
to a baptism. We see this as Zooey is bathing in the family commode, and when
The Essay on Franny And Zooey Franny
Young adulthood is often a time for maturing spiritually. Franny Glass, the protagonist of J. D Salinger's novel, Franny and Zooey, began to question her religious beliefs, during this time of spiritual growth. Franny's quest for religion caused her to become pessimistic, bitter, and emotionally unstable. Franny held many strong beliefs that caused her to view her surroundings pessimistically. ...
Franny is sleeping on the couch. It is said that she was bathing in the sunlight.
“…(T)he sun…. was behaving beautifully… Sunshine, in fact, bathed the entire
afghan (which Franny had wrapped around her)” (Salinger 123-124.) This shows
that symbolistically that the Glass’s search for more meaning in their lives. This
has aspects of the Glass’s synthetic religion being practiced. This resolution and
forgiveness is displayed because the Glass’s are introspective and they hate
phonies and have a great verbal skill (Magill 2042).
Their enlightenment makes
it difficult to love the phonies, this does not have to do with their “spiritual pride
or guilt.” Moreover there is a tearing of the sympathetic bond, there is a love
(Kazin 296).
Franny learns to accept those around her because in actuality they are just
as sanctified as Christ himself (Updike 85).
As Zooey tells her, “There isn’t
anyone anywhere who isn’t Seymour’s Fat Lady” (Salinger 201).
He is telling her
that technically everyone is a member of the phony society. This is the same
society that disgusts the both of them. “As one reads, one sees that ‘Franny’
takes place is what is recognizably our world; in ‘Zooey’ we move into a dream
world whose zealously animated details only emphasize an essential unreality”
(Updike 85).
Franny and Zooey learn to love those that they despise in society through
religious enlightenment. This is demonstrated mostly through personal
revelation. This realization that could never occur if both Franny and Zooey had
not come to the conclusion to love their flawed fellow man and to consider
themselves members of the human race. Children grow up even the geniuses
children. In doing so they gain a certain form of maturity. If they understand
what the normal adult understands at four, then what will they understand at 40.
Possibly this has attributes to do about one was raised, but further is the
understanding of religion for the world. Despite who attends church and who is a
professed atheist one has to put these people in their groups for their own piece
of mind. Even though one finds themself better than the group they have created
for them, they still might be able to love their