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‘I feel like someone in a terribly sophisticated play. The funny part is, I’m not sophisticated. I’m not anything. I’m just me.’ - J.D. Salinger
Salinger’s ‘Franny and Zooey’ is a book that speaks the minds of young people all over the world. The spiritual and existential dilemma of life that bothers all of us, is what the writer has portrayed through two characters namely; Franny and Zooey.
Salinger through his work, represents the plight of thousands of young adults who are trying to figure their lives out and identify themselves in a crowd.
Introduction
Book’s name - Franny and Zooey
Author’s name - J.D. Salinger
Genre - Fiction
Language - English
Synopsis - Spoiler Alert!
Written in two parts, as a short story and a novella, J.D. Salinger’s ‘Franny and Zooey’ was first published separately as ‘Franny’ and ‘Zooey’, two sequential stories in The New Yorker. The book offers a dual portrait of the two young members of Salinger’s famous Glass Family.
Franny Glass is a pretty, effervescent college student on a date with her intellectually confident boyfriend, Lane. They appear to be the perfect couple, but as they struggle to communicate with each other about the things they really care about, slowly their true feelings come to the surface.
The second story in this book, ‘Zooey’, plunges us into the world of her ethereal, sophisticated family. When Franny’s emotional and spiritual doubts reach new heights, her older brother Zooey, a misanthropic former child genius, offers her consolation and brotherly advice.
About the Author
Born on January 1st, 1919, Jerome David Salinger was an American writer best known for his book ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. Salinger also published several short stories in the Story magazine and was also a World War II veteran.
In 1948 his story ‘A Perfect Day for Banana-fish’ was published in the New Yorker which gave him enough critical acclaim to pave the way for his future achievements. After the publication of his highly acclaimed and controversial ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, the success of the novel led to public attention and scrutiny and Salinger became more and more reclusive over time. His life went downhill and he died on January 10th, 2010.
About the Book
‘Franny and Zooey’ entails a two part story of two siblings. Franny Glass is a young college girl who meets her boyfriend Lane Coutell for a football weekend in his college. They do not get to do the things they had planned because during their lunch together, Franny begins to have a breakdown.
She tells Lane that she is sick of school and the phony attitude of the faculty and that she has started attending some ‘Jesus Prayer’ meets, which are meant to cleanse their souls. Lane does not pay much heed to Franny until she collapses on the way to the bathroom and as he is reviving her, she starts to say the prayers.
Zooey essentially gets where Franny left off. In the first place, however, the storyteller names himself. The man professing to be the creator of the story is Buddy Glass, one of Franny and Zooey more seasoned siblings. The story resumes.
It is the Monday after the end of the week Franny's breakdown began, and Zooey is at home in New York City. In his discussion with his mom, Bessie Glass, it is uncovered that Franny is presently at home, resting and crying on the family room couch.
Bessie needs Zooey to converse with Franny, which he in the long run does. Both of them have a long religious and individual conversation. We discover that both of them have essentially been raised on a mix of various religions, instructed to them by their more established siblings Buddy and Seymour.
Throughout this meaningful conversation, Zooey helps Franny figure out her otherworldly and individual convictions, permitting her, before the end, to discover harmony.
Franny and Zooey was also adapted in a movie in the year 2008 which rightly expresses the sentiments of the characters but if one reads the book, they’ll find out the intricacies of the characters and how they are interwoven.
Themes Involved
Some of the important themes involved are that of religion and spirituality, existentialism and individuality and also the struggles of a young adult with those in authority. As young adults, all of us want things around us to be real and it definitely upsets us if the people around us are pretending to be something they are not.
This bothers Franny in her college life and she is unable to be fine with it. To escape all this agony and to find herself she turns to religion and joins the ‘Jesus Prayer’ group. The prayer group gives her faith which in turn gives her strength to carry on.
There’s also the theme of criticism of the bourgeoisie culture. Franny is upset over everyone’s desire to be alike. She wants people to retain their individualists as she tries to retain hers.
Famous Quotes
“I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.”
“An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's.”
“It's everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so — I don't know — not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless and — sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much only in a different way.”
“I don't know what good it is to know so much and be smart as whips and all if it doesn't make you happy.”
The Bottom Line
‘Franny and Zooey’ is a beautiful book and very relatable and I would suggest it to anyone looking for answers about life or just a different outlook on things. Written in Salinger’s typically irreverent style, these two stories offer a touching snapshot of the distraught mindset of early adulthood and are full of the insightful emotional observations and witty turns of phrase that have helped make Salinger’s reputation what it is today.
My Ratings for the Book - 5 on 5
You can buy the book from Amazon - Franny and Zooey
Written By - Sakshi Singh
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