Franny and Zooey is composed of two sections, which were originally published in the New Yorker magazine as two separate short stories. The first story or section, “Franny,” was published in the New Yorker in January 1955. In “Franny,” Franny Glass meets her boyfriend Lane Coutell for a football weekend at his college. They do …
Summary Lane Coutell is waiting on the platform at a train station. He is waiting for Franny Glass, who is coming in with other college women, for a football weekend at Lanes college. As he stands there, he reads a letter from Franny. In the letter, she discusses her dislike for most poets and keeps …
Summary In the bathroom, Franny begins to perspire. She cries for a while, until she looks at her little green book again. When she comes out, she tells Lane that she is much better but not hungry. When he tells her the plan for the weekend, she does not remember any of his friends. This …
Summary This story begins with an introduction by the fictional author, Buddy Glass. Buddy is the oldest living brother of Franny Glass and Zooey Glass. He is an author and teacher. He tells the reader that this story is a “prose home movie”–a home movie in writing. He says that Zooey believes the story to …
Summary When Zooey Glass finishes re-reading Buddys letter, he thinks about it for a while and then picks up a script, probably to memorize lines. The script reads like a melodramatic soap opera. His mother, Bessie, knocks on the bathroom door and asks if she can come in. Zooey pulls the shower curtain around himself …
Summary Franny lies asleep on the couch in the living room of the Glass apartment. This room is cluttered with furniture and pictures of the childrens days on “Its a Wise Child.” The living room window looks out onto a school for girls. Zooey enters the room with a cigar and wakes up Franny. She …
Summary When Zooey leaves the living room, he runs into Bessie, who wonders why her son is perspiring. He ignores her and enters Seymour and Buddys old room. There, he reads several quotations from various books of world literature, which are printed neatly all over the door. Zooey sits down at Seymours desk and looks …
Through Franny Glasss spiritual breakdown, J. D. Salinger explores issues in not only mysticism and religion but also family, celebrity, education, and intellectualism. Of course, the religious themes are important: By the end of the “Zooey” section, Salinger seems to have arrived at a spiritual doctrine, to be followed by many of his characters. Zooey …