Franny and Zooey (1961). Content and Description

Although frequently called a novel, Franny and Zooey is two intertwined short stories, each of which was published separately in the New Yorker: “Franny” in January 1955 and “Zooey” in May 1957. When Bantam collected and published the stories in 1961, Salinger’s post-Catcher popularity, especially with adolescents and young adult readers, propelled Franny and Zooey to the top of the New York Times best-seller list, where it stayed for six months.

The last of the tightly controlled stories of Salinger’s critically acclaimed middle period (1945-55), “Franny” paints a portrait of a young woman on the precipice of nervous collapse. Most of the action transpires at Sickler’s restaurant in an unnamed college town, a symbol for what Salinger considers a diseased intellectual environment. Both “Franny” and “Zooey” dislike the hollow Ivy League lifestyle, which, for Salinger, functions as a microcosm of American culture. In a conversation with her boyfriend, Lane Coutrell, Franny reveals her distaste for academia, the gender divide, psychoanalysis, and, like Holden Caulfield, all things “phony.”

Midway through the story, Franny divulges an enigmatic infatuation with The Way of the Pilgrim, a book she has recently read. In it, she discovers the “Jesus Prayer,” a kind of recipe for discovering one’s untapped spirituality through the ceaseless recitation of a simple prayer. Lane, a stock character representing the deficiencies of modern social reality, grows visibly bored when Franny discusses her newfound interest in Pilgrim and her desire to locate meaning outside academe. As Lane’s interest fades, anxiety overwhelms Franny. Feeling sick, she runs to the bathroom but faints before getting there. When she awakens, she begins “forming soundless words,” her lips moving without cessation, presumably repeating the Jesus Prayer.

“Zooey” picks up a few days later in the Glass family’s New York apartment. Franny has returned home in a near-catatonic state. The story’s first half takes place in the bathroom, where, in a long, often humorous conversation, Bessie, the Glass family matriarch, begs Zooey to comfort his younger sister. Impatient to rid himself of his nagging mother, Zooey agrees to talk to Franny.

The remainder of the story is their discussion. Zooey monopolizes the exchange, using it as an opportunity to “hold forth” on a number of issues including the responsibility of the artist, the importance of maintaining an even temper in the face of “phoniness,” and the necessity of developing a holistic spiritual perspective. Ironically, the often mean-spirited Zooey advises Franny to focus on improving herself rather than criticizing others.

Despite Franny and Zooefs prolific sales, most critics consider it Salinger’s least successful work. John Updike captures the critical consensus:

Salinger loves the Glasses more than God loves them. He loves them too exclusively. Their invention has become a hermitage for him. He loves them to the detriment of artistic moderation. “Zooey” is just too long; there are too many cigarettes, too many goddams, too much verbal ado about not quite enough. (If You Really Want to Hear about It 124)

Though many readers have fallen in love with the Glass children, “Zooey” works only for readers who share Salinger’s religious perspective over the years many have found Zooey’s harangues inspirational, and many others have found them arrogant. As with Salinger’s later work, readers must decide for themselves whether or not Salinger’s vision is attractive.

For Discussion or Writing:
1. In both stories, the narrator associates Franny with sunlight. Why?

2. Of the many social mechanisms with which Franny is dissatisfied, gender roles in 1950s America are perhaps the most visible. Compare Franny’s frustrations with hindrances contemporary women experience. Write a well-developed essay that compares Franny’s concerns with modern-day concerns.

3. Tone describes the expression of an author’s attitude and beliefs as manifested in his or her work. Do “Franny” and “Zooey” have similar tones, or is it possible to detect a mood shift between the first and second stories? If you detect differences between the two, what are they? Choose passages from each story to support your answer.

4. Toward the end of “Zooey,” the title character tells Franny, “At least I’m still in love with Yorick’s skull. At least I always have time enough to stay in love with Yorick’s skull.” The quote alludes to a conversation between Hamlet and Horatio in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. After reading Act 5; Scene 1 of the play, discuss what Zooey means. What does Yorick’s skull represent to Zooey? How is Zooey (and/or Franny) similar to Hamlet?

5. The American novelist and short story writer John Updike criticizes Franny and Zooey for a lack of continuity. “The Franny of ‘Franny’ and the Franny of ‘Zooey,’” he writes, “are not the same person. The heroine of ‘Franny’ is a pretty college girl passing through a plausible moment of disgust. . . . The Franny of ‘Zooey,’ on the other hand, is Franny Glass, the youngest of the seven famous Glass children. . . . The Way of a Pilgrim, far from being newly encountered at college, comes from Seymour’s desk, where it has been for years. One wonders how a girl raised in a home where Buddhism and crisis theology were table talk could have postponed her crisis so long and, when it came, be so disarmed by it” (If You Really Want to Hear about It 122-123). Discuss the inconsistencies between “Franny” and “Zooey.” Is Franny the same person in both stories, or did Salinger alter her personality to fit his narrative scheme?

Works Cited and Additional Resources:
Alexander, Paul. Salinger: A Biography. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 1999.
Alsen, Eberhard. A Reader’s Guide to J. D. Salinger. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Salinger’s Glass Stories as a Composite Novel. Troy, N.Y.: Whitston, 1983.
Bloom, Harold, ed. J. D. Salinger: Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.

Crawford, Catherine, ed. If You Really Want to Hear about It: Writers on J. D. Salinger and His Work. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006.
Eppes, Betty. “What I Did Last Summer.” Paris Review 80 (1981): 221-239.
French, Warren G. J. D. Salinger, Revisited. Boston: Twayne, 1988.

Galloway, David. The Absurd Hero in American Fiction: Updike, Styron, Bellow, Salinger. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981.
Grunwald, Henry Anatole, ed. Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1962.