Parent Problems

It seems to me that the roles of parenting in Salinger's books are utterly depressing. In "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut," Eloise's conduct towards Ramona is that of a bitter, perhaps envious mother who obviously doesn't have her daughter's best interests in mind. In "Down at the Dinghy," whether or not you think Boo Boo's conduct towards Lionel was inappropriate, the fact that it sparks debate makes her parenting style controversial at best. His father also is perceived as an absent figure. In "For Esme--with Love and Squalor," her father and mother are both dead and their relationship had been deemed superficial be even their young daughter. Finally, in "Teddy," Mr. and Mrs. McArdle seem to be slightly scared and uncomfortable around their brilliant son, portraying a decided lack of understanding as parents.

Because there isn't one example of a decent, traditionally supportive parent in all the stories, I decided to research Salinger's relationship with his own parents, wondering if he modeled the fictional parents after his own. I found out that, as a child, Salinger struggled with being Jewish in a predominantly non-Jewish school (he didn't know his mother wasn't Jewish until after her death). Apparently, Salinger was excellent at theatre but his father opposed the idea of his son becoming an actor. His grades were bad and he was kicked out of his private school (reminiscent of Holden) and his parents went ahead and enrolled him in military school. After Salinger dropped out of college, his father sent him to work with a meat-importing business. From the bare facts, Salinger didn't seem to be close to his parents.

Salinger had two children. His eldest, Margaret, was sick several times as a child but he refused to take her a doctor. His wife ran away with his daughter for several months before he persuaded her to return. Margaret also wrote a memoir as an adult that brought her children more unwanted attention; she wrote about him very severely.

Alright, I wrote a lot more than I planned to but, anyway, what do you think about the correlations between the parental relationships in the book and Salinger's relationship with his parents and his role as a parent?