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The Cage of Dualism: Ego‑Attachment and Zen Insights in A Perfect Day for Bananafish
LI Yin-yao
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2025.05.003
Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
This paper examines J.D. Salinger’s A Perfect Day for Bananafish through the lens of Zen Buddhist philosophy, particularly focusing on the concepts of dualistic opposition and ego-attachment. Through close textual analysis, the study demonstrates how protagonist Seymour Glass’s psychological trajectory embodies the Zen struggle to transcend conceptual dualities while simultaneously falling prey to spiritual ego-attachment. The paper argues that Seymour’s tragic suicide stems not from war trauma alone, but from his unrecognized attachment to his own detachment—a paradox that Salinger meticulously constructs through symbolic imagery and dialogic interplay with the child character Sybil. By situating the story within Salinger’s engagement with Zen thought and postwar American spiritual crises, this analysis reveals new dimensions of one of the 20th century’s most enigmatic short stories.
Bananafish, Zen, ego-attachment
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, May 2025, Vol. 15, No. 5, 375-382
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