Living through the war, the experiences were just too awful for him. He hated being an adult, he longed for the innocence of childhood. He enjoyed playing and talking to a four-year-old girl, just before his demise. He told her the story of the Bananafish and for their love of bananas, they would inevitably die. There was a delightful dialogue between Seymour and the girl, but not so with the adults that followed. Seymour realized he too could never get his innocence back, so he aimed and fired and that was the end of the Seymour, the adult.
Ginnie Mannox, the main character in Just Before the War with the Eskimos, seemed to be a mature girl. Meeting up with her tennis friend's brother, Franklin, she managed to make conversation. He was much more immature than she, which put them on a level playing field. Though it did seem that the more obnoxious he was the more interested she became in him. Franklin was a crabby type. One could see that he was dissatisfied with his life and was fighting becoming an adult. Although his father wanted him to attend school or work, he did neither. I saw Ginnie feeling that she could help him and nurture him to adulthood. I think this made her feel important. She worked her way into his sister Selena's life to see Franklin again.
Down at the Dinghy is a story of adult cruelty and children's innocence. Boo Boo Tannenbaum, a relative of Seymour Glass, was a woman of means. She had maids that cared for her home. Although she seemed somewhat over indulgent to her son, Lionel, she enjoyed his antics. When she discovered he was in the dinghy and planning a voyage to run away again, Boo Boo made light about it. Joking and kidding with Lionel, Boo Boo watched as Lionel threw a pair of goggles into the lake. She commented that the goggles once belonged to Uncle Seymour. Seymour Glass, the main character in A Perfect Day for Bananafish. Lionel, upset, confessed that the maid called his father a big sloppy Kike.
