After reading almost every single story written by J. D. Salinger, I’ve perceived in his work, many great things that are hidden among the lines of his beautifully written stories. For this paper, I've decided to compere two of my favorite stories written by him, which are: For Esmé with Love and Squalor, and Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes. These are two of his master pieces, but at the same time both are different stories that carry different teachings and, in a way, summarizes many points of view on some life matters, that for Salinger were relevant. This is important because it will guide us through his view on things, especially society, which for Salinger was corrupt, materialistic and without love; at the same time that hope –for humanity and the world – would be a recurrent reason, which will motivate humans to keep on going with their lives. Finally, time and space will be taken into consideration as well as the type of narrator, in an effort to give a better understanding of these two beautiful stories, and their respective crisis.
To begin with this analysis, I believe that it is important to have a better knowledge of each one of this stories, therefore, I will briefly talk about each one. For Esmé with Love and Squalor, is a story that follows no linear timeline. It starts with a married couple who is invited to a wedding; this invitation generates a flashback to the past, in which most of the story takes place. Esmé is a beautiful little girl that is part of the church chorus in the city of Devon, England. She is an orphan who is described as:
With straight ash-blond hair of ear-lobe length, an exquisite forehead, and blasé eyes that, I thought, might very possibly have counted the house.” Her voice is the “sweetest-sounding” of the bunch, but she seems somewhat “bored with her own singing ability. (Salinger, P: 90)
This is relevant to the story because it is unknown through, who the male figure is, and this is something that the author does on purpose, because through the narrator he uses, which is a deficient narrator, the author keep the readers in a stage of uncertainty, that, he will use in favor of a wonderful end, which gives a message of hope towards humanity.
On the other hand, Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes, is a story about betrayal –I believe– which is presented as a situation between three people: Lee, Arthur, Joanie, and the nameless girl that is in the room with Lee, who is never know for certain, if she, is or not Joanie. The situation between these three characters is bizarre. As readers, it seems that Lee and Arthur are friends and colleagues. The entire story is narrated in a very deficient way –as in Esmé– and keeps the reader with a feeling of uncertainty and discomfort. The whole story takes place in a dark room. The events seem to happen in a very short period of time, which in this story seems linear, and the talk between Lee and Arthur, has different approaches to a lots of topics that seem relevant to this characters, as well as tricky, because of how the situation is presented. These two characters talk about Joanie most of the time, but, there are other topics like work, that seem relevant, but also hidden between lines as Arthur’s main concern, instead of his wife. This generates unease on the readers, because, one cannot be ever certain of the motivations of this two characters, as well as we can never know if the girl in the room is Joanie, or if she is really relevant as a character, rather than an excuse, for Arthur to call Lee.
This two stories seem rather different when presented like this, but, it must be kept present in our minds that, there are many recurrent topics and literary tools that the author uses in both of this master pieces. First, we can perceive that the author enjoys writing in a way that generates uncertainty and makes the readers unease. The common narrator, which is a very deficient one, is an excellent tool of Salinger’s, to keep the reader interested. The variation in this two stories is major thou. In Esmé, the purpose of keeping the readers in a phase of uncertainty, allows Salinger to revel his goal, when the package is open towards the end of the story, while for Pretty Mouth, it helps Salinger to maintain a kind of mystery at the end, that will allow the readers have their own take about the events presented thorough out the story.
Second, time is very relevant in Salinger’s stories, because, it allows Salinger to describe various motivations, and feelings, before even starting to narrate the main core of these stories. A great example of this is Esmé; time here is not linear, and the author keeps going back and forward though time. On the other hand, this cannot be so well perceived in Pretty Mouth, but this is not so important, because what Salinger is trying to show here with time is completely different. Reclusion, betrayal and double standards, are some of the problematics Salinger shows in this story, being time extremely relevant, because instead of flashbacks, he presents as a situation that happens in a very short period of time, fully charged with descriptions that would make the reader feel like time has frozen for Lee and Arthur.
Finally, spaces are important in both cases, because, Salinger uses the characters environment to feel the reader’s imagination. The best in this author is that, he combines his narration with the way he presents time and space, in a way that makes the stories more vivid. Salinger’s spaces are full of details, and in a way, this spaces are repeated more than once through his Nine Stories. For our specific case, in Esmé, is England, but also the dark room where the Unknown Soldier rests and gets better, while in Pretty Mouth, most of the chain of events happen in a dark room full of smoke; making this type of scenario, very common for this author, especially when he wants to portray harsh topics.
In conclusion, Salinger through this three parameters –space, time and the narrator– shows us from his perspective the different problems of the world, as well as he, in a very detailed way, vividly encourage the reader to make his or hers own assumptions and takes about this stories, which are truly his master pieces.
Sources:
Salinger, J. D. For Esmé - with Love and Squalor: And Other Stories. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1953. Print.