After reading J.D. Salinger’s short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish, we had a discussion in class on if Seymour was creepy or predatory in his relationship with Sybil. Personally, I see his relationship with Sybil as inappropriate and a bit scary. I completely understand that Seymour is lonely and seeking a simple, fun relationship, which Sybil is able to provide. However, I think his interactions with the three year old girl are a bit disturbing and hair-raising.
First, Seymour Glass is a young man (assumably in his 20s) while Sybil is a three year old girl. This is not an age and gender relationship that you see often, so it raises some eyebrows right away. In Seymour’s language, I can definitely see a teasing tone that one would often use with small children. However, I don’t think his predatory-seeming lines should be excused just for this reason. Seymour’s language and actions take a few steps past a “normal” playful relationship with a three year old.
Once Sybil arrives where Seymour is lying on the beach, he says, “I was waiting for you,” which is a creepy phrase for a grown man to say (11). He has a beautiful wife back at the hotel, yet Seymour has been waiting to play with this innocent three year old. Seymour proceeds to call Sybil “baby” and “my love,” (later) which are creepy and inappropriate phrases (11, 16). He remarks on her bikini, telling her to “come a little closer” so that he can see what color it truly is (12). Even if he has a playful, childish tone while saying these words, the language itself is predatory and concerning. Additionally, the fact that the innocent three year old obeys his commands worries me. It seems that Seymour has a great deal of power in this relationship, and like a normal three year old, Sybil agrees with anything an adult says. Seymour then remarks on Sybil’s looks again, saying “you’re looking fine” (12). Then, in the conversation about Sybil’s jealousy of Sharon Lipschutz, both of their language implies an unconventional relationship. Sharon sat on Seymour’s lap while he was playing piano, and Seymour says he “pretended she was [Sybil]”(13). This is an extremely odd and inappropriate thing to say about having a three year old sit on your lap. Then, he says Sharon mixes “memory and desire” (13). The kind of “desire” Seymour references is unclear, but totally unacceptable to say about a toddler.
Seymour barely knows Sybil; it seems that he has never met her mom or dad. I think his actions inappropriate considering the apparent depth of his relationship with the toddler. Examining his physical actions, things take a turn for the worse. Throughout the story, Seymour is very physical and touches Sybil various places on her body: he grabs her ankles three times, holds her hand, picks her up, lays her down on her stomach, and kisses the bottom of her foot. These touches are inappropriate. Personally, I work a great deal with children doing regular babysitting, working at my church nursery, and as a swim instructor. I have children that I know very well and I know their parents, too. I love these kids! But there is a certain line with children that you should not cross, and I think Seymour definitely does this when he kisses Sybil’s foot. I think Sybil knows that there is something wrong with this, too, when she responds with “hey!,” but she is too young to fully understand or process Seymour’s actions. Additionally and significantly, Seymour’s many physical gestures toward Sybil are never returned. For example, at one point, Sybil “stopped walking and yanked her hand away from him.”
I agree that Seymour's actions in this story are worrying. I was especially uncomfortable when Seymour took Sybil into the water and walked away from the shore and when Sybil expressed jealousy towards Sharon. At some points in this story, like when Seymour called Sybil "baby" and when Sybil was jealous of Sharon, I almost thought Sybil was a young woman, until I reminded myself that she was 3.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that at times Seymour's actions may have a slight predatory tone that comes with them, we must look at his interactions with Sybil in full context with his supposed mental state. We talked in class about how the conversation between Muriel and her mother sensitized us to Seymour right away. After reading this, we are bound to point out anything awkward or suspicious on the part of Seymour and attribute this in a negative way to himself. It is possible that the way has altered Seymour's mind, so that he is more comfortable and enjoys playing with little children more than talking to people his own age. This would explain why the interaction between him and the lady in the elevator, when he tells her to stop staring at his feet, is so awkward.
ReplyDeleteThis is a particularly interesting post for me to read especially because I shared the same thoughts on Seymour (predatory, worrying about Sybil) but my thoughts changed after a second reading of this story, when I realized that Sybil was a girl about 3 years old. While I could have thought that this would make Seymour's interactions more worrying, that wasn't case, as I understood that Seymour, if you asked me, was acting a little silly (pleasantly, teasing, the way you tease kids) in a lighthearted way. If anything, I think that Seymour is able to act this way to Sybil precisely because she is a child. Children are more truthful and honest in ways that adults just aren't, adults have become more "phony" and politely "fake," in just the way that the woman was, how quick she was to leave the elevator, after denying that she was looking at Seymour's feet. I think that Seymour may have realized this lack of honesty in the adult world after coming back, which may be why he is seen as being "crazy."
ReplyDeleteI agree, the whole interaction between them was slightly unsettling. The part where Seymour kissed the arch of Sybil's foot was probably the most strange to me; I can understand most of the rest of his behavior as playful and teasing in a child-friendly way, but that specific part was what originally made me look skeptically on his actions. On a second read, my view of his character was slightly tainted because of it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Seymour has malicious intentions, but his behavior towards Sybil definitely warrants some suspicion. I think he really wants to have the innocence that was taken away from him (presumably by war and the prejudices of society), and he finds that in Sybil. But maybe he overromanticized the idea of that innocence, possibly explaining his suspicious, but not necessarily harmful behavior towards Sybil. His interaction with Sybil could have gone down in a completely different way (possibly even dangerous) if something had triggered him, though.
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ReplyDeleteI think that many people agree with your overall statement that there are some predatory aspects to Seymour and his relationship with Sybil. But from discussions in class there seems to be a difference in opinion in which parts are actually creepy. I think that you have many good examples of when Seymour crosses a line, but also a couple that might not have been as bad as we think. I think it is impossible for us to all reach an agreement on which parts are playful vs predatory, but that is just part of the story.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, very good close reading of the text to support your interpretation! Seymour's intentions--indeed, anything internal to his experience at all--are off limits in this narrative, and his behavior with Sybil is as ambiguous and open to interpretation as his behavior in the elevator or in the hotel room. It's possible to see it both ways: all we've said in class about how he seems to prefer the company of children and is genuinely playing with Sybil without necessarily evil intent might still apply, and yet Seymour is clearly a disturbed man who doesn't have a clear sense of social conventions and boundaries. (Or, he's aware of them and doesn't care.) There's definitely something more than a little "off" about this scene, and yet it is possible to see something innocent and sad going on here as well.
ReplyDeleteYour reading of the text makes a lot of sense, and the relationship between Sybil and Seymour is certainly odd. I at first was very worried by it, but upon re-reading and class discussion, it seems to me to be a bit more just teasing child-type things, and not scary. The kissing of the foot is probably the most upsetting part, but I see the whole interaction more as Seymour feeling outcast from the adult world than a malicious relationship with a young girl.
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