Finding a Way OutJerome David Salinger was an influential writer in the 1950s. He reflects his own personal life in all of his fictional stories and several of Salinger's fictional characters appear to be alter egos at different stages of his life. The autobiographical fiction "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is a reflection of Salinger's own wartime experience and marital infidelity. The story focuses on the main character Seymour Glass, a veteran of World War II and consequently a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder. Following the traumatic event he experienced, Seymour Glass developed a feeling of detachment and distance from the society around him. In "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," JD Salinger ingeniously uses conflict, characterization, and motivation to reveal how victims who have suffered a traumatic event can be driven to a state of isolation. After returning from a devastating war, Seymour Glass struggles to readjust. to civilian life and the challenge of integrating into society becomes the underlying conflict of the story. It is typical and almost predictable that soldiers who have been involved in a traumatic war can cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in themselves. A victim of PTSD, Seymour suffers from recurring, disturbing flashbacks, difficulty coping with painful memories, and perhaps even what is known as "survivor's guilt"; guilty of being alive while others are dead. Since the term PTSD had not yet been coined at that time, there was misunderstanding and confusion about the behavior of the soldiers involved. Seymour showed signs of forgetfulness, anxiety, avoidance and distancing. At the beginning of the story, the telephone conversation between Muriel and his mother returns...... middle of paper ......e to deal with the disturbing and recurring flashbacks and heartbreaking memories from which he suffered each day . Perhaps he could have been saved if he had only had a way to express his feelings. To this end, the importance of connection and communication between one another cannot be emphasized more and hopefully this story has been enough encouragement to reach out to loved ones and even acquaintances with the aim of building better relationships and progressing as a society. Eberhard. A Reader's Guide to JD Salinger. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print. French, Warren. JD Salinger, revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1988. Print. Gwynn, Frederick L. The Fiction of J.D. Salinger. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1963. Print. Salinger, Jerome David. “A perfect day for banana fish.” The New Yorker January 31, 1948: 21-25. Print.