Literary Analysis on Franny and Zooey

Literary Analysis on Franny and Zooey

While everyone knows about Catcher, not many have read this other classic by
J.D. Salinger. Franny and Zooey is a story about Franny Glass, a young college girl and
her brother Zooey, an actor in his middle 20's. Like The Catcher in the Rye, a theme in
this book is questioning people and the World Franny finds a new religious idea, which
starts her wondering about life and what she should do with hers.   As everyone knows,
that is very complicated stuff to question, and it spawns a mini-breakdown.   J.D. Salinger
attacks the universal theme of putting aside preconceptions and egos and getting back
into the childlike innocence by showing the two stories of Franny and Zooey as well as
the concept of   “the fat lady.”
Away at school, Franny begins to have doubts about the meaning of life. Franny
rebels from this education by taking on the Jesus Prayer. She becomes absorbed in
herself and ends up judging even Jesus from The Bible. It is this misinterpretation of her
newly learned religion that leads to the tenth rate nervous breakdown, and the rejection
of society as a whole. Franny has a tenth rate nervous breakdown because she was
involving herself too deeply in the religion, and would not come out of it to see the
world. Franny is so obsessed with this new religion, her trip to the bathroom in Sickler’s
diner is described, "as though it were a rendezvous point of some kind..."(5) because
she could read the little green book. It was overpowering her, and it quickly became
dangerous. On her way to the bathroom for a second time, "She weaved a trifle, then
fainted, collapsing to the floor."(6) This religion is so powerful that it is causing Franny’s
health to disintegrate. But was the prayer the cause of her breakdown, or vice versa?
The second story, Zooey, begins with a hilarious scene of Zooey trying to take a
bath with his mother constantly interrupting him. They are both worried sick over Franny,
who is asleep in the living room, but they...