Seymour Glass: Contextual and Linguistic Identity

Abstract

In the article, the personality of Seymour Glass, the chief character of the Glass familysaga by J.D. Salinger, is analyzed from social and his own philosophical perspectives. Two ofSalinger’s works – ‚A Perfect Day for Bananafish‛ and ‚Hapworth 16, 1924‛, which complementeach other in terms of character analysis, – are the focus of our attention. They offer answers to thequestions (a) how the personality of Seymour predetermines the frame structure of the whole Glassseries, (b) why Salinger starts with the end of Seymour’s life and ends with its beginning, and (c)what are the author’s motives in writing ‚Hapworth‛ since one of its central ideas – philosophy ofreincarnation – has already been presented in ‚Teddy‛.