Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn
University
For
Esme--with Love and Squalor
(1950)
J. D. Salinger
(1919–
)
"For Esme--with Love and
Squalor" Notes
133 D Day: In
general military terms, this is "the unnamed day on which a particular operation commences or is to
commence" (Dictionary
of Military Terms). In this story it specifically refers to the June
6, 1944 invasion of Normandy by Allied forces. "As
our boat touched sand and the ramp went down I became a visitor to hell,"
is the feeling of Private Charles Neighbor which echoes in Salinger's story as
well. See links:
133 Quonset: A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated steel having a semicircular cross
section (Guampedia). See Quonset
Huts for its production history. Even more production details and
specifications at Quonset
Hut.
133 V-mail: American
military method of corresponding home during World War II.
135 dickeybird: a
small bird (Merriam-Webster);
adults talking to children sometimes use these words to refer to small birds
(WordNet
3.0)
136 counted the house:
house: the audience gathered together in a theatre or cinema
(WordNet
3.0)
140 chronograph:
148 the Bronx cheer:
151 squalor:
159 E. T. O.:
159 Goebbels:
159 Die Zeit Ohne
Beispiel:
160 "Fathers and
teachers...unable to love":
160 Dostoevski: the
Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky
Study
Questions
-
Explore
the presence of Esmé’s mysterious and absent father. His large chronograph encircles her wrist, calling attention
to nail-bitten fingers, yet the girl incongruously describes him as
an amateur archivist (149) who was “s-l-a-i-n in North Africa”
and that Charles “misses our father very much” (146).
Why is his relationship to her portrayed in this way?
What other squalid legacies does he leave behind?
-
Despite
her age, Esmé has an exceptionally mature vocabulary and sense of
irony and tone. When
the narrator says that he “was visiting Devonshire for [his]
health,” she immediately responds with an incredulous “Really…I
wasn’t quite born yesterday, you know” (142).
The older Clay, on the other hand, hearing the narrator’s
“I’ll look at my stamp collection,” says “Yeah?
You got a stamp collection?
I didn’t know you—” (168).
Yet the “truth-lover or a statistics-lover” charms X
because of her youth and innocence.
How is she innocent? How is Clay no longer unsullied?
-
Paradise
and hell figure variously in Salinger’s story.
Loretta, Corporal Z’s girlfriend, is described as writing
“from a paradise of triple exclamation points and inaccurate
observations” (163). Another
woman, a Nazi Party official, writes in her book, “Dear God, life
is hell” (159). Choose
an object or a short passage to close read for its heavenly or
hellish implications in the story.
Some objects that might be interesting to focus on: letters,
the wristwatch, hands. Scenes
you can examine: the children’s choir practice, writing the quote
from Dostoevsky, feeling “almost ecstatically” sleepy.
-
What
is D Day? What does Die
Zeit Ohne Beispiel mean? How
do these fit in to the running motif of special and memorable days
or time in J. D. Salinger’s short story?
-
War:
In what ways does war touch the lives of these characters?
-
Humor:
Esme tells the narrator at one point in their conversation:
"Father said I have no sense of humor at all. He said I
was unequipped to meet life because I have no sense of humor"
(148). Do you think Esme has a sense of humor? What
comic moments are there in the story and why are they funny?
By the end of the story, which pronouncement prevails: the father's
or the narrator's not thinking that "a sense of humor was of
any use in a real pinch"?
|
Sample Student
Response to J. D. Salinger's story "For Esme--with Love and Squalor"
(Responding to a
study question)
Study Question:
Response
1:
Student
Name
2202234
Introduction to the Study of English Literature
Acharn
Sorn Nangsue
June
21, 2010
Reading
Response 1
Title
Text.
|
|
Reference
Salinger,
J. D. "For Esme--with Love and Squalor." 1950. Nine
Stories. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. 131–73.
Print.
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Last
updated June, 29, 2010