A Perfect Day for Bananafish

by

J. D. Salinger

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on A Perfect Day for Bananafish makes teaching easy.
The psychiatrist is a resort guest who asks Muriel if Seymour is sick. The story heavily implies that this is because of Seymour’s strange behavior, but Muriel assumes that the psychiatrist is referring to Seymour’s pale complexion. When recounting this conversation to her mother on the phone, Muriel can’t remember much of what the psychiatrist said about Seymour’s condition because she was distracted by the psychiatrist’s wife’s ugly dress.

The Psychiatrist Quotes in A Perfect Day for Bananafish

The A Perfect Day for Bananafish quotes below are all either spoken by The Psychiatrist or refer to The Psychiatrist. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sanity and Social Norms Theme Icon
).
A Perfect Day for Bananafish Quotes

“[…] he asked me if Seymour’s been sick or something, So I said—”

“Why’d he ask that?”

“I don’t know, Mother. I guess because he’s so pale and all,” said the girl. “Anyway, […] His wife was horrible. You remember that awful dinner dress you saw in Bonwit’s window? The one you said you’d have to have a tiny, tiny—”

“The green?”

“She had it on. And all hips. […]”

“What’d he say though? The doctor.”

“Oh. Well, nothing much, really. I mean we were in the bar and all. It was terribly noisy.”

Related Characters: Muriel Glass (speaker), Muriel’s Mother (speaker), Seymour Glass, The Psychiatrist, The Psychiatrist’s Wife
Page Number: 6
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Perfect Day for Bananafish LitChart as a printable PDF.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish PDF

The Psychiatrist Quotes in A Perfect Day for Bananafish

The A Perfect Day for Bananafish quotes below are all either spoken by The Psychiatrist or refer to The Psychiatrist. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sanity and Social Norms Theme Icon
).
A Perfect Day for Bananafish Quotes

“[…] he asked me if Seymour’s been sick or something, So I said—”

“Why’d he ask that?”

“I don’t know, Mother. I guess because he’s so pale and all,” said the girl. “Anyway, […] His wife was horrible. You remember that awful dinner dress you saw in Bonwit’s window? The one you said you’d have to have a tiny, tiny—”

“The green?”

“She had it on. And all hips. […]”

“What’d he say though? The doctor.”

“Oh. Well, nothing much, really. I mean we were in the bar and all. It was terribly noisy.”

Related Characters: Muriel Glass (speaker), Muriel’s Mother (speaker), Seymour Glass, The Psychiatrist, The Psychiatrist’s Wife
Page Number: 6
Explanation and Analysis: