The religious commitments of J. D. Salinger.

J. D. Salinger's short stories "Teddy," "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period," "Franny," "Zooey," "Hapworth 16,1924," "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters," "Seymour--An Introduction," and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" contain influences of religion which are predominantly Eastern. The major characters in all the stories are religious pilgrims striving for religious goals. Teddy is influenced primarily by Hindu philosophy, and he attains the Hindu summum bonum of Brahman. De Daumier-Smith, though not a conscious seeker of religious enlightenment, attains his spiritual peace in the Zen Buddhist experience of satori. Franny Glass, the youngest child of the family, attains a rather non-distinct spiritual satisfaction which resembles satori more than Brahman, nirvana, or Tao-realization. Zooey Glass is seen to have characteristics of a bodhisattva for he assists Franny in overcoming her spiritual difficulties; yet Zooey himself cannot be called a spiritual pilgrim because he is not a seeker of enlightenment. Buddy Glass, second oldest child of the Glass family, is never seen to be a seeker, although by his very absence of effort, he may be the most successful pilgrim in the Glass family. Seymour Glass, the acknowledged guru of the Glass family, is the cause of all the other Glass childrens' spiritual consciousness; yet Seymour is the most tragic figure of all the Glasses. His spiritual progress is unequalled throughout most of his short life; yet by his marriage to Muriel Fedder, he brings about his own downfall and ends his life by committing suicide.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

1966

Author dc:creator

• Matthews, Jerry Bob, 1938-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Goode, Clement Tyson, 1929-

• Salinger, J. D. (Jerome David), 1919-2010.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/14405

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/14405