
JD Salinger published "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in 1948, just after he came back from fighting in WWII. In Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim admits himself into a mental hospital for WWII veterans in 1948, right after he proposes to Valencia.
In your blog post, please consider connections between these two works of literature. Start with a specific observation and then connect your passage to themes in both works, such as: innocence, PTSD, role of the media, depiction of female characters, glorification of war, hyper-masculinity and war, etc.
You can:
- Choose a specific line and ask a genuine question about it. Try to answer your own question and pose it to the class to consider.
- Choose a specific passage and state what you believe to be its significance.
- Ask a question about something that Salinger DOES in his writing, such as: Why do you think Salinger begins his story, a story whose protagonist is Seymour Glass, with a description of Seymour's wife, Muriel? Try to answer your own question.
Remember:
- Respond to someone else's post. Deepen the thinking, add a new idea, disagree, add textual evidence, make a new connection, etc.
- Your comment should be 5-7 sentences long-- - Use textual evidence as much as possible.
Have a happy holiday!