Salinger and Social Status

In reading several of J.D. Salinger's stories, we have discussed in class how most of the stories are about pretty wealthy people who are pretty high up in society. In many of these stories, though, it seems that Salinger puts in some subtle indications that these people are not content, and they see an appeal in a more relaxed lifestyle.

I most prominently saw this in "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut.'' We can clearly see that Eloise leads a pretty cushy life: she has a maid, she seems to be a stay at home mom. However, she doesn't seem content with her family or situation as she is catching up with Mary Jane. The tone she uses with her daughter is pretty harsh, and she talks very impatiently about Lew, especially when comparing him to Walt:

'"Doesn't Lew have a sense of humor?" Mary Jane said.
"What?" "Doesn't Lew have a senseof humor?"
"Oh, God! Who knows? Yes. I guess so. He laughs at cartoons and stuff." Eloise raised her head, lifted her drink from her chest, and drank from it.
"Well," Mary Jane said. "That isn't everything. I mean that isn't everything."
"What isn't?"
"Oh . . . you know. Laughing and stuff."
"Who says it isn't?" Eloise said. '

Here, we can see that Eloise doesn't seem to care about having an easy life or lots of material things, which she clearly has. What she thinks is important and appealing is a good sense of humor, which indicates that she isn't satisfied with her nice life and high social standing.

Eloise was probably the most obvious example of this discontent with social standing, but there are hints of if in other stories. In "Just Before the War with the Eskimos," Ginnie is at first a bit disgusted by Franklin, but as they continue to talk, she starts to seem drawn to him. At first, he seems a bit weird, but Ginnie seems to find him fascinating, as he leads a different life than most of the people she probably knows: he wasn't in the army, he instead worked at an airplane factory, and, judging by this story, he spends a lot of time in his pajamas. This is definitely a contrast to Ginnie's life of going to finishing school (or something like that) and playing tennis.

There also may be a hint of discontent in "The Laughing Man." The Comanches are all extremely fascinated by the Laughing Man's life, where he keeps very little of the wealth that he steals and is constantly on the move over the "Paris-China border." I may be reading too far into this, as many little kids just like adventure stories, but it is possible that there is some appeal to these kids in a less wealthy lifestyle. The Chief also may see this as well, as he is the one who makes up the stories and perhaps wants to see himself in some ways as the Laughing Man. All in all, I can't decide if indicates that Salinger is trying to critique these wealthy people with all of this, or maybe he grew up in a family like this and can best relate to these people. What do you all think?

Life and Death in "Indian Camp"

In "Indian Camp," Nick is exposed to the most significant parts of a person's life: the beginning and the end. However, this doesn't seem like a traditional way for a child to witness either of these things. Nick's reactions seem to be quite different than what they might be if he first witnessed a traditional birth in a hospital or by visiting a nursing home or attending a funeral. Instead, he is present for an impromptu C-section and a man abruptly ending his own life. As a result, I don't think Nick quite sees the joy of a new child in the world or the sorrow of losing someone.

Right off the bat, when Nick and the doctor arrive, Nick hears the woman screaming, which makes him a bit upset, as he wants his mother to make it stop. As his father starts to operate on the woman, Nick refuses to look and turns away, seeing it as disgusting. Though these reactions are perfectly understandable, I think that in most cases of someone having a baby, once the baby is born, people don't think much about all of the pain of the birth. They are more happy that there is a new baby. However, Nick does not witness that joy to counteract all of the pain that he has witnessed. First of all, he does not see the mother as very happy, and the father clearly is not happy, as he kills himself, and no one really draws a lot of attention to the baby. Therefore, I think that Nick has a bit more of a negative view towards birth, as he, as a child, first witnesses only the painful, and not the happy aspects of it.

Nick's view towards death becomes a bit different from what I would think of as ordinary as well. Although it is a terrible image for him to see a dead man who has slit his own throat, he doesn't really see any suffering that the man goes through. He also knows that the man ended his life on his own accord. Leaving the camp, it says that Nick felt "quite sure he would never die." This might mean that in seeing how the man ended his own life, he feels like he would never do that and therefore feels more in control of his own death.