First published in the American magazine The New Yorker on April 8 th 1950, the short story ‘For Esme—With Love and Squalor’ was anthologized two years later in J.D. Salinger’s collection Nine Stories. The story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed character who upon receiving an invitation to a wedding that he wishes to attend.
Salinger's short story “For Esme: with Love and Squalor” begins with a man invited to a wedding. His first person narration reveals that he has a wife, and they are unable to attend the wedding in order to see his mother in law. Then, suddenly, the story shifts. The man begins to tell the story of how he met the bride, six years earlier. “For Esme with Love and Squalor” by Jerome David Salinger For Esme with Love and Squalor A Classic American Short Story By J. Salinger (1919-2010) JUST RECENTLY, by air mail, I received an invitation to a wedding that will take place in England on April 18th. Heywords: Defense mechanism, For Esme with Love and Squalor, J. Salinger, Psychoanalysis, Psychology, Psychoneurotic. The 20th century has witnessed a plethora of war stories, but among them Salinger¶s ³For Esme with Love and Squalor,´ a minor masterpiece as Paul Alexander calls it, stands out.
Summary
The story begins with the author J.D.Salinger,receiving an invitation of marriage of a friend named Esme in Devon, Englandwhom he met while at the ending day of his pre-invasion training in Devon. Hefirst saw her at the church where she was singing as a group member of thechoir & later met her at a local private coffee shop. As of curiosity andbecause the narrator was an American whom she, has seen in the church when shewas singing in the choir group, she went to his table to have a chat with himand socialize herself. During the conversation between them, as she came toknow about him that he is a sort of writer, she asked him to write a squalidstory, which is not childish, for her. She also took his address so that shewould be able to write to him and thus remain in contact with him. After thatthe author, as Sergeant X, went for the war in Germany where he fought in theD-Day & in subsequent five campaigns of the war along with a companion,corporal Z. The war had a very negative impact on his physical & mentalhealth. He wasn't able to come through the war with all his faculties intact,the war has disturbed him severely. Because of his bad health he visitedhospital two times and has lost a considerable amount of his weight. He came tohis centre at Gaufurt, Bavaria after spending two weeks at the hospital. Thenext starting scene of the later & I think, the important part of the storybegins with when he was sitting at the wooden chair and their was a table whichwas messed up with letters, parcels which were not been opened for quiet longtime. The Narrator disguised as Sergeant X, took his brother's letter &started reading it who was asking him to send some bayonets & swastikas. Infrustration of his health and because of his brother's demand of materialisticthings which were unimportant for him, he tore his brother's letter and threwit in the dustbin. After that he had a long interaction with his friendcorporal Z. When Z went, he took his typewriter from the floor and put it onhis table and thus made place for it by removing the letters & parcelsaside. After sometime his eyes fell on a parcel with a green covering, whichwas sent by Esme. The parcel had Esme's dead Father's watch in it, which wassent by her on June 7, 1944 while he received it very late i.e. 2-3 months latein August after the end of the D-day when armistice was reached and the war wasover with the German force. The parcel also contained a letter, when he readit; it greatly satisfied him and further helped him to sleep, a sleep which hewas longing for long time and was not able to get because of the trauma he hassuffered through-out the war time. It helped him in becoming a man with all hisfaculties intact i.e. fully making peace with his mind.
The author of the story J.D.Salinger wasconsidered as the most influential American writer of the 20th century, who wasalso known for his reclusive lifestyle, especially when he tried to run awayfrom the utmost fame which he received after writing the Novel- Catcher in theRye.
For Esme with Love- written by J.D.Salinger is astory which reflects the trauma suffered by the soldiers, not only belonging tothe axis but also from the allied or winning side like American soldiers.Salinger himself fought in the Second World War and it had a traumatic effecton Salinger health, as he suffered from a nervous break-down which was due tothe war impact & of visiting the concentration camps and seeing thecondition of people in concentration camps there in Germany. According to methis story is directly an outcome of his experience in the war. Another Novelof his ‘Catcher in the Rye’ also reflects the trauma effects on the peopleafter the post-world war. This novel brought him literary fame. Such was theimpact of this novel that it has become an integral part of most of theAmerican's Psyche and was also introduced as a text curriculum in many of theschools in the US.
Reflections of the story
I had chosen this story, as it appeared to me asa kind of love story. When I had read it first, it totally didn’t appear to bea love story. But, when I read it twice and thrice then I came to understandthe inherent love within the story. Then, it appeared to me a fascinating andmoving story which I was able to cherish it finally. This was apparent in thestory when first, while being getting separated in the restaurant Esme forcedher younger brother to kiss the Author and at second when she wrote the letterto author mentioning Charles loves you.There were two words, s-l-a-i-n &f-a-c-u-l-t-i-e-s and squalor or squalid which were given emphasis in thestory. The former word ‘slain’ was used when her father was slain-ed in Africa.The word ‘faculties’ was used two times at first by Esme while wishing thenarrator that he comes safe from war with all his faculties intact & thesecond time when the narrator himself described that how her letter & thewatch had helped him to regain all his faculties. The narrator’s use oflanguage appears to be sophisticated but later on due to an Army kind ofenvironment he uses vulgar and abusive language along with Z at some point. Thegirl, Esme appeared to be much older than from her original age in the story asshe used high vocabulary words in her language, her lady like closed mouth yawnand was also clear from her strong liking of squalid stories. The storyat first appeared to be emotionless, but after careful and again reading itappeared to me full of emotions. One of the most moving part of the story waswhen he was reading the inscription written in a book by a German lady whom hearrested few weeks earlier which said “Dear God, Life is hell” instantly withfar more zeal than in the past few weeks when he was suffering, he took apencil and wrote down under the inscription in the form of scribble- what ishell? It’s the suffering of being unable to love.
Literary Elements
The plot seems clear while, when they (Narrator& Esme) first saw each other in the church & then their subsequentmeeting at the restaurant, their separation at the restaurant, tearing down hisbrother’s letter by the Narrator because of being vexed by unimportant demandsof swastikas & bayonets by his brother, coming of corporal Z andconversation with him about how Z killed the Cat and other things, in the roomwho was his companion all through the D-day & five campaigns & finally,finding Esme’s father’s broken watch & reading of the letter sent by Esmewhich gave him relief and finally a deep sleep.
There are two main characters, Narrator who lateron is presented in the story as Sergeant X & Esme. The other sub charactersare Corporal Z, Esme’s brother, aunt & Governess, Z’s Mother, Z’sgirlfriend Loretta, narrator’s wife & mother in law.
The main theme is love which is not conveyedexplicitly but is conveyed implicitly. It is also about the war impact onpeople not only on their physical health but mental trauma which people sufferduring war time.
The time-frame of the story begins before thenarrator goes on for the D-day invasion in the Year 1944, after hispre-invasion training at Devon, England. At Devon he meets the girl &promised her for writing a squalid story for her. The second part of the storythe Narrator described himself as Sergeant X, a person suffering of the mentaltrauma due to the war impact on him, physically weak, sitting on a chair in adark room as he was also having problem with the light.
Interpretation of the story in the group
We all felt that the story was very bizarre,incoherent in nature particularly at the later part of the story when thenarrator describe himself as X. Most of us were questioning about, what was theneed for him to hide himself as Sergeant X and not letting the story to movesmoothly as the first part while his meeting with Esme at Devon. Why he hasmade the later part of his story a mess as was his table messed up with paper,letters, parcels & books? What was the need to make it incoherent? Hehimself said before starting the second part of the story as “I’m not atliberty to disclose. I’ve disguised myself so cunningly that even the cleverestreader wouldn’t be able to recognize me”. He may have disguised himself becauseof the war situation at that time. Other thoughts which were reflected in ourdiscussion were that the story is a blend of many genres such as it is not onlya love story as it may seem but it has war like situation, the trauma whichpeople suffer in such situation such as the trauma suffered by German lady& the narrator himself while there are some who show their strength in suchsituation like Corporal Z. Another question which was raised in our discussionabout the narrator’s own experience of war linked to the story. When I havesearched about the narrator who himself have participated in D-Day and hassuffered through mental trauma. I felt it correct that he would have relatedhis experience of war in this story or this story was an outcome of hisexperience of war like situation. For this reason this story appeared to me asan example of, which involves the Transactional criticism. While reading thestory I experience the transactional process between the text and I as a readerwas highly personal, which I think was also true for my group mates in theliterary discussion where I think each one of us was linking their ownIndividual experience with the text. This was evident when in the discussionwhen we had dissimilar kind of thoughts about the interpretation of the text.For example, some were saying that the story was a result of the Author'sexperience of war while some were saying, that one can write such a storywithout having prior experience of war, so the story has nothing to do with theauthor's experience.
I enjoyed the plot part the most and how thecharacter presented themselves, which also gave me an essence of howpersonality of a person differs from one person to another, How some thingswhich are important for one are unimportant for the other one. As for CorporalZ for whom life is meant to be lived with fun, who seeks love in enjoyment,dance, music & radio programs. In contrast to Z, X sought love in silence,with reading of the books, text & his writings. This was apparent from the2 incidents, first while when he himself wrote under the inscription written bythe German lady in her book & second when he saw the broken watch & theletter of Esme. For X emotions were his energy with which he sees the world& live his life.
Jd Salinger For Esme With Love And Squalor Text
A word ‘Squalor’ which means similar to morallydegrading, appeared very interesting to me as I have for the first time cameacross this word. For the first time when I have read the story the latter halfof the story really appeared as squalid but when I read it twice & thricethen it appeared to me a remarkable and fascinating story which has beendisguised so beautifully.
Being part of the circle helped me in knowingdifferent perspectives among us of the same story. I enjoyed the agreement& disagreement among us, but I think there was far more which the storywants to say, but we were reiterating our own interpretation seeming my pointis the only right point and ending up with that. I think that's the beauty of agood literature, a good story which says make out what you want to make. If weagreed to our peer's perspective we had a new & different perspective &if not, then we are left with the same perspectives of the story. This alsoapplies to children's literature as in it there is a message, a world ofaesthetics, but who can enjoy & appreciate it? Only those who do have anexperience of it, As a text about real world & real things makes much senseto children even adults rather than the text which talks about the virtualworld.
Reflections
The story with its title gives a cue that it's agift by the author to a girl named Esme. While reading the story for the thirdtime I was moving with the story, as if it was me who was one of theparticipants in the story. I felt the story, the trauma suffered by Sergeant Xand after that though I much wishing to not being able to go for Esme’smarriage. Literary discussion helped each one of us to put our thoughts &most of us were coming up with the similar kind of thoughts. But, according tome we all were not well able to connect with the story. We all, at variouspoint of our lives suffer from mental trauma; we want to forget it, as we liveour days we want to remove it from our mind. The important thing is to drawconnection, a kind of linkage through these stories. We all do have a lot ofstories beneath our heart & we should share it & connect with what weread. According to me, only then, the lesson of the reading could last inour hearts and minds forever.
After participating in this process, I haveunderstood that there are multi-perspective of the same story but there is onecommon theme which link each perspective with one another like the sunsurrounded by the nine planets. As a reader I have understood that reading astory or a literature once & then forming opinion about it is notfair, I need to read it twice & thrice, thus would I be able to see & experienceit in a new & better manner. Literary discussion has its own significancebut it has limitations too. As it's been said, words represent the world.Though we live in one world but each one of us has his own world, with whichone view & creates one's perceptions. Literary discussion can help us toknow different, surprising perception which can leads to social cohesion and amore democratic environment where everyone is seen as Equal.
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Story[edit]
for esme with love and sqalor is a story about the problems of post war generation.they seek peace life in love;however,their ancesters sought it in war. Zabihollah Eslami — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.191.102.49 (talk) 10:06, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
Was Charles autistic? -WalterJid — Preceding unsigned comment added by WalterJid (talk • contribs) 02:11, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
- I'm not sure, and I don't see any evidence for or against it in the text, though it is possible. Thunk 06:18, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Textual references needed for literature analysis?[edit]
There are those two '[citation needed]' subscripts regarding the interpretation of Sergeant X possibly being Seymour Glass or Buddy Glass. These are valid interpretations that anyone can make. Unless we actually have them, do we really need to cite sources from a famous literature critic? My point is, we will most likely never know if these analyses are correct, but they are certainly valid, and we shouldn't need someone 'with a name' to verify it. Let's not mimic politics. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Slythfox (talk • contribs) 05:51, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
As I said below, Seymour was dead by the time this story took place. Unless Salinger moved around dates for some reason, it can't be Seymour. - Brandon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.41.46.139 (talk) 00:14, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
'...It is more widely accepted that Sergeant X and Seymour Glass are the same person'[edit]
Does the Sergeant have to be either? He receives a letter from an *older* brother in Albany - Buddy did live in upstate New York (c.f. 'Franny and Zooey') but was Seymour's younger brother. Also the implication of crassness in the letter detracts from the idea that it is Buddy, and Buddy did not seem to have any children in his 1951 letter in 'Zooey'. The fact that Buddy was not married subtracts from his being the narrator (who is married, c.1949-50, in 'For Esme') either.81.98.43.135 16:42, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
Buddy Glass and Sergeant X have nothing alike. I don't remember anything about Buddy being in the war, but he might have been. And I don't think Sergeant X and Seymour could be the same because Sergeant X begins to recover, whereas Seymour doesn't and commits suicide. There are similarities between the two (i.e. shell shock, love of children) but I think the themes and growth of the two characters do not match up. Caesar— Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.43.124.144 (talk) 20:45, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
It can't be Seymour Glass. This story takes place in 1950, Seymour committed suicide in 1948. -Brandon — Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.191.196.50 (talk) 14:16, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
For Esme With Love And Squalor
X is a personification of Salinger's own experience with the war?[edit]
I just noticed tonight that Salinger himself had fought in the war, and Sergeant X seems similar to him. They both were occupying Germany after the war itself, and both arrested minor female Nazi officials but didn't really hate them, and Salinger himself was said to have been a bit shellshocked by the war, especially when he helped liberate a concentration camp. I just thought, tonight, that this story might be a telling of his own story. (With a few embellishments and differences, of course.) What thoughts do you people have on this?Thunk 06:24, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
I thought the same when I first read it, but I don't think there is enough evidence to really say either way.165.123.164.232 07:11, 7 November 2006 (UTC)
Endure the squalor of war?[edit]
He Sargent X certainly did not endure it too well. This synopsis seems pretty lacking. I think this story is more about the need for meaningful human connections and the difficulty of maintaining these connections in the chaos of war. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paulrhoades (talk • contribs) 20:18, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
French female name[edit]
Shouldn't it be 'Esmée,' instead of 'Esmé'?Lestrade (talk) 15:36, 30 January 2010 (UTC)Lestrade
Jd Salinger For Esme With Love And Squalor Text
- We can only repeat what Salinger himself wrote, and that is how he spelled it. ---RepublicanJacobiteThe'FortyFive' 15:41, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
Undiscussed move[edit]
I don't recall ever seeing this title with an em dash, and the pictured cover shows it with a hyphen-sized one. Is there consensus for this move? Rothorpe (talk) 14:05, 22 February 2013 (UTC)
- I don't think there's a consensus for either style. It seems that more modern reprints are using an em dash instead of a hyphen. It makes sense from a grammatical point of view anyways. See this result in Google Books for example: the title still uses a hyphen, but the titles in the reviews use em dashes. - M0rphzone (talk) 04:14, 26 February 2013 (UTC)
- It makes sense from a grammatical point of view? How? Rothorpe (talk) 18:34, 26 February 2013 (UTC)
- I wondered about this move, as well, and cannot see the justification for it. ---The Old JacobiteThe '45 18:56, 26 February 2013 (UTC)
Wow... I didn't think anyone would object to a move like this one. Regardless of the move, what is your justification for using the previous title? There was no prior consensus for the original title, and there is no consensus on any of the titles, so the previous title had no justification for its use. The story was published online on New Yorker with a hyphen or hyphen-minus and spaces, yet the original version in the archives looks like a dash and doesn't use spaces in the title. If you want to use arbitrary examples as justification, then the copy of Nine Stories I have right now uses the em dash, not a hyphen or en dash. The screenshot used in the article shows a dash, but do we not update article titles to whichever one is the present 'official' title? The publishers published the newer editions with em dashes, and I'd imagine that they had to get the edition reviewed by Salinger before being published. In addition, the spacing is different depending on the font used, and an em dash may appear to be a dash, or a dash may appear to be a hyphen.
So, does this single change do anything or cause something to break? What is your justification for using the previous title? Why are you challenging the move? It may have been used before this move, but that doesn't mean that the title was correct. Also, Google treats en and em dashes as the same, so there is no way to determine which one is more common through searches. I wouldn't waste more time moving it back to the other title, which by no means is the common title. - M0rphzone (talk) 05:35, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
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