(Seymour talking about bananafish to Sybil) "Well, they swim into a hole where there's a lot of bananas. They're very ordinary-looking fish when they swim in. But once they get in, they behave like pigs. Why, I've know some bananafish to swim into a banana hole and eat as many as seventy-eight bananas."..."Naturally, after that they're so fat they can't get out of the hole again. Can't fit through the door." (查看原文)
在第二次世界大战结束以后,也就是1956-1990年之间,被称为'The Gold Age of Capitalism',整个市场呈现出经济繁荣的趋势,美国的中产阶级的数量也开始直线上升,从而渐渐开始有了消费主义(consumerism)这个概念出现。从某种角度来说,或许崇尚物质拥有(material possession)也治愈了战后人们的创伤。至少我们可以看出Muriel一点也没有战后忧郁的影子,反而还一副享受生活的样子。然而,注重精神的男主Seymour就难以用物质来让他遗忘战争给他留下的创伤。更重要的是,由于男主自己亲自参与了战争,这对于他来说消除战争阴影不是那么容易的事情。所以当男主从战场回到社会,从战争回到和平的时候完全就没有办法适应。战争现场所带给他的阴影是没有办法用时间抹去的,然而既然活在社会上,他必须要自我消化这一切抑郁和绝望,因为他根本没有办法找到人诉说,就连他简单得推荐给她妻子一本诗集,他妻子也无心阅读,所以他的战后的创伤只能自己吞到肚子里去。从这一点,我们就可以想到Seymour自己想象出来的香蕉鱼的宿命了。当香蕉鱼在洞里找到香蕉的时候,会拼命往嘴里塞,拼尽全力得吃。然而到最后因为太撑了,导致没有办法从洞里出来,等待它们的只有死亡-“I’ve known bananafish to swim into a banana hole and eat as many as seventy-eight bananas…after they eat so many bananas they can’t get out of the banana hole…they die.”。那么那些所谓的香蕉不正是Seymour回到现实生活中日积月累被现实塞满的惆怅和绝望吗?在遭受战后身心伤痛和对现实生活不适应的情况下,Seymour找不到人诉说,他只能被迫接受,并且企图自... (查看原文)
With her hand, when the float was level again, she wiped away a flat, wet band of hair from her eyes, and reported, “I just saw one.”
“Saw what, my love?”
“A bananafish.”
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“Once,” she said, “I fell down. I used to wait for him at the bus stop, right outside the PX, and he showed up late once, just as the bus was pulling out. We started to run for it, and I fell and twisted my ankle. He said, ‘Pool Uncle Wiggily.’ He meant my ankle. Pool old Uncle Wiggily, he called it…God, he was nice.” (查看原文)
DEAR SERGENT X,
I hope you will forgive me for having taken 38 days to begin our correspondence but, I have been extremely busy as my aunt has undergone streptococcus of the throat and nearly perished and I have been justifiably saddled with one responsibility after another. However I have thought of you frequently and of the extremely pleasant afternoon we spent in each other’s company on April 30, 1944 between 3:45 and 4:15P.M. in case it slipped your mind.
We are all tremendously excited and overawed about D Day and only hope that it will bring about the swift termination of the war and a method of existence that is ridiculous to say the least. Charles and I are both quite concerned about you; we hope you were not among those who made the first initial assault upon the Cotentin Pen... (查看原文)