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This behavior is the same as that of the insensitive wife of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and that of the wife and mother-in-law of “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” The only person who offers love to Sergeant X is the brave British orphan Esmé, who sings with a voice like a bird and offers him the wristwatch of her deceased father. The reader is shown the egotism of the wife and mother-in-law of Sergeant X, who write selfish civilian letters to the American soldier about to be landed in France, requesting German knitting wool and complaining about the service at Shrafft’s restaurant in Manhattan. At the same time, Sergeant X is Seymour Glass. The time and setting of this story tie it into the experiences of Salinger abroad during World War II. For Esmé-with Love and SqualorĪn early example is the character of Sergeant X in “For Esmé-with Love and Squalor,” from the collection Nine Stories. Looking back at Salinger’s early works, one sees how these selections can be related to events in the actual life of Salinger as well as how they contain characters who are part of the Glass family saga. The reader sees how often members of the Glass family are present in the stories or novelettes.

Salinger demonstrates his admirable ear for teenage dialogue in these stories. In “The Young Folks,” however, the adolescents resemble the insensitive schoolmates of Holden Caulfield more than they resemble Holden himself. Many of these stories are concerned with adolescents. Salinger’s early stories contain elements foreshadowing his later work. Children have a wisdom and a spontaneity that is lost in the distractions and temptations of adult life. Like William Wordsworth, Salinger appreciates childhood innocence. The love for children occurs frequently in his stories-for example, the love for Esmé, Phoebe, and Sybil. Some of these characters cannot adjust to the military, some have unhappy marital relationships, and others are unsuccessful in both areas. Many of his stories have wartime settings and involve characters who have served in World War II. A sense of loss, especially the loss of a sibling, recurs frequently. There is a failure of communication between people: between husbands and wives, between soldiers in wartime, between roommates in schools.

They see the phoniness, egotism, and hypocrisy around them.

Salinger ( Janu– January 27, 2010), neurotic and sensitive people, search unsuccessfully for love in a metropolitan setting.