Muriel’s
mother is very fearful that Seymour will “completely lose control of himself.”
She says that Seymour shouldn’t have been released from the hospital he was at
and is very worried for Muriel’s safety. Muriel is very defensive and
understanding of Seymour, she understands why he won’t take his bathrobe off
even though her mother doesn’t. She disregards much of her mother’s worry and
says that the psychiatrist she had talked to hadn’t been able to say anything
without more facts.
Going into
the second part of the story, with Seymour and Sybil, the conversation between
Muriel and her mother colored my perception of Seymour. I was constantly
waiting for Seymour to do something wrong and interpreted many of his actions
to be more malicious than they may really have been. In some ways, it was easy
to think that Muriel’s mother was being overly protective and there was nothing
wrong with Seymour, but at the same time many of Seymour’s actions seemed a
little shady. Although Seymour never did anything overtly wrong, the fact that
we already knew that there may be something wrong with him made me constantly suspicious
of his intentions every time he talked to Sybil.
Overall,
Seymour defied my expectations in the scene with Sybil. But then he immediately
returned to the hotel and killed himself sitting on the other bed in the room
with Muriel. Seymour’s suicide in some ways justifies Muriel’s mother’s fears,
but not completely. Seymour doesn’t ever show any malicious intent for Muriel
and her trust in him is justified. But he does commit suicide in her room,
causing what will most likely be a very traumatic experience for her. Muriel’s
mother is right that Seymour should be getting help and that everything is not
right with him, but she is wrong to think that Muriel is in any direct danger
from Seymour.
I also think it's interesting that other than his unfortunate suicide, Seymore was pretty personable when we saw him during the story. I wonder what Salinger was doing when he set up this contradiction. Maybe he was trying to tell us something about mental illness.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading the story, I thought Muriel's mother was being a little extra but had the right sentiments. I definitely agree with you that Muriel is not in any direct danger from Seymour, but I thought he was really weird/off throughout the entire story. For example, Muriel's mother didn't want him to drive, but Muriel let him anyways but was very cautious. I do like how Salinger starts the story with this phone call with Muriel's mother worried about Seymour, to then defy our expectations about him not really being super dangerous, to then defy our expectations again with the last line of the story.
ReplyDeleteSeymour did not seem very harmful, but he did seem very creepy which can be analyzed a number of ways. I agree that how Sybil's mom talked about him vs how he actually behaved was different. Yet in the end I admit it was unexpected. I also think Salinger is saying something about mental illness and people who have come out of a war.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! Because of the way that Muriel’s mom portrayed him, I was suspicious of Seymour, questioning his relationship with Muriel and Sybil. I was especially worried for Sybil but that might also be influenced by everything that’s been happening nowadays. At the end of the story, I even thought he was going to shoot Muriel so I was really surprised when he shot himself. It really made me question the way I read stories.
ReplyDeleteI think that Muriel's mother was right, even if Seymour ended up not hurting Muriel directly, his suicide will surely cause lots of trauma in her life and have it's own powerful indirect effect on her. I found his interactions with Sybil to be even more than suspicious too. Ultimately, Muriel's mother was worried about Seymour being unsafe, and she was right; he never threatened Muriel's safety, but he did take his life in a very unsafe manner.
ReplyDeleteI think the mother is more concern about physical harm coming to her daughter. I do not believe that Seymour, even in his immense grief, would contemplate harming another human in while attempting to take his own life. The mother was correct in knowing Muriel would get hurt though. Even with all his quirks, Muriel seems to like her husband. His loss especially so close to her will bring about grief and turmoil in Muriel's life.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Muriel's mother's perception definitely colored how we saw the interaction between Seymour and Sybil. I also agree with previous comments about how I was still startled when Seymour shot himself, even after hearing the warnings from Muriel's mom.
ReplyDeleteI think that part of the reason Muriel's mother was so concerned was because of how unpredictable Seymour could be in the state that he's in. He just happened to choose a way of killing himself that didn't put Muriel in any direct harm, but there are a lot of other possible ways he could have tried that would have put Muriel in danger. For example, it is heavily implied that he tried to drive into a tree to kill himself, which would have harmed Muriel. I think that the concern should have been more for Seymour, but it is understanding for a mother to be concerned by a child, and depending on how Seymour chose to kill himself, there was a very real possibility of Muriel being in danger.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think it just goes to show how preoccupied or distracted Muriel is. She cares more about fashion than Seymour's odd behavior. Or, it could simply be that she doesn't understand Seymour and is simply not attuned to recognizing signs of Seymour's deteriorating mental health. Regardless though, I think Salinger uses Muriel as part of his commentary on materialism and fake people and how out-of-touch they can be.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Muriel's conversation with her mother is very important in terms of setting up the rest of the story. We think that the mother is being overly concerned and that Muriel must know her husband pretty well. But, with the ending, we see that the mother's concerns were justified. It's just that Muriel's so conceited that she doesn't understand something is wrong with Seymour.
ReplyDeleteI think that Muriel's convo with her mom definitely impacted how we see the rest of the story. Personally, her mom pissed me off and I wanted Seymour to be good and sane just to spite her, so I think that at first I kinda overlooked some of Seymour's more questionable actions. But at the same time, it also planted the seed for us to be hyper-aware of anything Seymour did. I wonder what Salinger's intentions were in setting the story up like this?
ReplyDelete