Gmvargas
Dec 31, 2018
Undergraduate / Bananafish - UVA Supplement: Work of literature that surprised me [2]
I'd really appreciate some advice and feedback on my essays, especially my first one!
What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way? (250 Words)
When I was sixteen, one of my best friends went to the hospital. A suicide attempt, I later found out. I was upset, I was confused, but overall, I was angry. I was angry at myself for not noticing a little sooner, not paying closer attention to the signs, not listening a little harder to what she was saying.
The first time I read the final sentence of Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," I was so shaken at how it rang true seventy years after its publication. It's only in the last paragraph that Salinger writes out Seymour Glass' suicide, but the signs are sprinkled throughout the short story in the most subtle ways. From mentions of reckless driving to empty anger, Salinger paints the picture of a man haunted by trauma. Yet there's still that bit of shock when Seymour finally pulls that trigger.
Human connection. Listening to one another. So many of us have become so disconnected from one another that we hear but never stop to listen to the words coming out of someone else's mouth. That's where the beauty of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" shines. It shows the power that miscommunication can have over us today. The smallest misinterpretation of a word or gesture can lead to the wrong conclusion. So many of us can say that we're okay, and people won't question it.
If there's anything that "Bananafish" has taught me, it's the importance of looking out for one another and listening, not just hearing, to what we have to say. It's through that communication that we're able to prevent the preventable.
Is the topic that I chose too heavy? It's a story that I hold close to my heart but I'm scared I'll come off as "overly edgy" or that it'll look like I just chose something that I read in class. I know I'm over the word limit too, but I think I can fix that fairly easily.
I'd really appreciate some advice and feedback on my essays, especially my first one!
What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way? (250 Words)
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
When I was sixteen, one of my best friends went to the hospital. A suicide attempt, I later found out. I was upset, I was confused, but overall, I was angry. I was angry at myself for not noticing a little sooner, not paying closer attention to the signs, not listening a little harder to what she was saying.
The first time I read the final sentence of Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," I was so shaken at how it rang true seventy years after its publication. It's only in the last paragraph that Salinger writes out Seymour Glass' suicide, but the signs are sprinkled throughout the short story in the most subtle ways. From mentions of reckless driving to empty anger, Salinger paints the picture of a man haunted by trauma. Yet there's still that bit of shock when Seymour finally pulls that trigger.
Human connection. Listening to one another. So many of us have become so disconnected from one another that we hear but never stop to listen to the words coming out of someone else's mouth. That's where the beauty of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" shines. It shows the power that miscommunication can have over us today. The smallest misinterpretation of a word or gesture can lead to the wrong conclusion. So many of us can say that we're okay, and people won't question it.
If there's anything that "Bananafish" has taught me, it's the importance of looking out for one another and listening, not just hearing, to what we have to say. It's through that communication that we're able to prevent the preventable.
Is the topic that I chose too heavy? It's a story that I hold close to my heart but I'm scared I'll come off as "overly edgy" or that it'll look like I just chose something that I read in class. I know I'm over the word limit too, but I think I can fix that fairly easily.
