Salinger's "The Nine Stories- is a collection of nine separate, but related stories in which many characters are related to each other. Seymour Glass of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish- and Sergeant X of "For Esme "With Love and Squalor- have both similarities and differences in terms of their lifestyle, personality, and important experiences.
At first glance, both characters share many things in common. Most importantly, both of them have gone through the war, and are suffering "shell shock."" Also, both Seymour and Sergeant X have a special relationship with kids. In Seymour's case, Sybil Carpenter is portrayed as Seymour's friend. Sergeant X is also quite friendly to kids, as shown in his relationship with Esmé. Both of them are married and quite educated. The reference to Seymour's playing the piano and sending German poems to his wife reveals this. Sergeant X is also an intellectual, considering that he writes stories.
Despite all these similarities, Seymour and Sergeant X are different in many ways. Although both of them were suffering the same kind of post-traumatic symptoms, Seymour ends up killing himself, whereas Sergeant X is fully recovered with help of Esmé's letter. Sergeant X could connect his thoughts to his life before the war using the letter, which shows Esmé's genuine concern for Sergeant X and her unchanged voice toward him when they met before. Seymour, however, cannot recover from his psychological disorder, considering the uncaring nature of his wife as shown in her conversation with her mother.
In conclusion, Seymour and Sergeant X are very similar characters with similar experience of war, but the outcomes of their lives are totally different due to their surroundings and other people. Seymour's hopeless story of bananafish that ends with death can be contrasted to the hope Sergeant X got from Esmé's letter.
