Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Motif
Of course, in Salinger's day, it was not called post traumatic stress disorder at all; it wasn't really called anything, that post-war change in a soldier's emotional and mental stability that made them overwhelmed by what they had experienced and deeply depressed on their return home. One of the motifs in Salinger's stories is this mental and emotional struggle felt by men who saw combat during World War Two. Seymour Glass, the husband to the protagonist in A Perfect Day for Bananafish, is suffering from a depression brought on by his experiences in the war. Although he seems able to converse with the children he runs into he cannot readjust to the everyday adult world and ends up killing himself at the end of the story. Similarly, the narrator in For Esme, with Love and Squalor is a jingoistic, perfectly happy man during the first part of the story, but jaded and mentally incapacitated, receiving treatment for mental illness, in the latter part.
Disconnect Between Parents and Children Motif
There is a definite disconnect between parents and their children in several of the Salinger stories. Although the children are from wealthy families, they are not nurtured or overly loved, and in some cases seem like a frightful inconvenience. The best example of this is a little girl called Sybil, in A Perfect Day for Bananafish, whose mother has gone to the hotel bar for drinks, and left her daughter to her own devices whilst she does so. Sybil wanders out onto the beach and encounters Seymour who spends much more quality time with her than her own mother does. Similarly, Teddy's little sister, who is six, is left to wander the cruise ship they are traveling on without anyone accompanying her, and when it is time to look for her, it is her ten year old brother who is dispatched and not either of her parents, who clearly find their children a tie and a nuisance.
Bananafish Symbol
Seymour realizes that the bananafish are a symbol of his life; they gorge themselves on bananas until they die because they are unable to leave their feeding hole. Seymour feels that he has also had far too much experience in the war behind him, and is too filled with the trauma of it, resulting in an inability to escape the hole he has dug himself into, and ultimately having no option other than death.
Man's Watch Symbol
Esme wears her father's huge military watch on her wrist even though it is too big for her, because it is a symbol to her of her father, his military service, and the love that they had for each other. It is also a symbol of her respect for the military.
Esme Giving the Narrator the Watch Symbol
When the narrator of To Esme, with Love and Squalor is recovering from the mental trauma experienced in World War Two, he receives a package from Esme which turns out to be her father's watch. This is a symbol of the respect that Esme has for him and also a symbol of the fact that she does not consider his mental illness to make him any less of a man.
