While reading Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes I noticed that the narrator referred to both the girl that Lee was in bed with and Arthur's promiscuous wife, Joanie, as "girl". This reminded me of the Beginning of Bananafish where the narrator refers to Seymour's wife, Muriel, as "the girl". I fid it interesting that Salinger has the narrator address the women as "girls" rather than "ladies" or "women" etc. It could have something to do with youth and innocence which are motifs omnipresent throughout all of Salinger's stories. I find it interesting, however, that none of these three women are "innocent" by conventional means, at least not in terms of promiscuity. Muriel reads sex articles in a magazine during Bananafish, Lee's "girl" is in bed with an older man, and Arthur's wife is notorious for sleeping around. Why do you think that, given these character traits, Salinger still decides to address the women as "girl"'s?
-Becca
I agree with this connection. People who sleep around being referred to as "girl" makes it seem that Salinger is almost making a point that these women are promiscuous. To me it seems like by just calling these characters "girl" that it is degrading to them. Seymour's story about Bananafish proves that Muriel can be considered "girl" and Arthur's distress over Joanie being out without him shows that she can't be trusted around other guys without him.
ReplyDeleteI think, these character's are called "girls" because, while they believe they are showing maturity through their promiscuity, they are really just proving their immaturity. So, they aren't "women," they're "girls".
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good point. "Girl" always seems like a degrading term to me when it is used to describe someone who is old enough to be classified as a "woman" and not a "girl". It sounds like Salinger is almost talking down to them. Salinger is disgusted that they are so promiscuous, so he shows his disgust by calling them "girls".
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