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The titular bananafish—a kind of fish that Seymour makes up to entertain Sybil—has two layers of symbolic significance: the story that Seymour tells about the fish is a metaphor for the destruction caused by war and by hyper-materialistic culture. As the story goes, bananafish are much like regular fish, only they swim into holes that are full of bananas. Once inside those holes, the bananafish feast on bananas until they’re so fat that they can’t swim back out of the hole, at which point they die of “banana fever.” Given that Seymour has recently returned from fighting in World War II and is clearly still haunted by all he witnessed there, it’s reasonable that those experiences would bleed into the story he makes up for Sybil. Indeed, it seems that the bananafish symbolize soldiers who went into the war as regular, run-of-the-mill men (like the bananafish prior to swimming into the banana hole) but then witnessed and committed so many violent acts (feasted on so many bananas) that they eventually died—whether mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically (succumbing to banana fever).
However, it’s also possible to consider the bananafish and their insatiable appetites in the context of the resort-goers’ similarly insatiable materialism. Just like the holes are filled with bananas, the resort is overflowing with wealth—designer clothing, calf-skin luggage, silks, and more. In Seymour’s story, just one taste of a banana triggers the bananafish to gluttonously overindulge (“Why, I’ve known some bananafish to […] eat as many as seventy-eight bananas,” Seymour tells Sybil gravely), which suggests that a single taste of luxury incites a similar kind of single-minded obsession and overindulgence. Like the bananafish with their swollen stomachs, unable to squeeze back out through the hole, those who become beholden to wealth and greed can never escape that life. In Seymour’s story, the bananafish, overstuffed with bananas, die of so-called banana fever. He doesn’t explain what this is, but his use of the word fever here seems to suggest that the greed and gluttony that consumerism can kick up in a person are a type of mental fever—that is, materialism thrusts people into a fanatic and frenzied mental state. While the bananafish literally die of their fever, those who are ensnared in materialism’s grasp “die” psychologically and are unable to lead normal, healthy lives again.
Bananafish Quotes in A Perfect Day for Bananafish
The A Perfect Day for Bananafish quotes below all refer to the symbol of Bananafish. 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:
).
A Perfect Day for Bananafish Quotes
“Their habits are very peculiar. Very peculiar. […] They lead a very tragic life.”
Related Characters:
Seymour Glass (speaker), Sybil Carpenter
Related Symbols:
Bananafish
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
14
Explanation and Analysis:
Here, Seymour begins to explain the titular bananafish to Sybil as they wade out into the ocean. As the story goes, bananafish look like normal fish, but what differentiates them is that they swim into holes full of bananas. Once inside the hole, a bananafish will so thoroughly gorge themselves on bananas that they quickly grow too fat to swim back out of the hole, at which point they die of the so-called banana fever. It’s significant that, in this passage, Seymour first introduces the made-up bananafish as being “peculiar” in their habits and leading a “tragic life,” as it reinforces the two different ways of interpreting the bananafish symbol.
On the one hand, the bananafish could refer to men like Seymour who were unremarkable prior to entering World War II (swimming into the hole), but this environment was so saturated with violence (bananas) and they became so filled with it, that they eventually died a moral, emotional, mental, or even physical death (dying of banana fever). It makes sense, then, that the bananafish—men like Seymour himself—would have “very peculiar habits,” because Seymour in fact does have odd habits (refusing to take off his bathrobe, for instance). It would also make sense to say that these men lead a “tragic life,” since war has stripped them of mental stability, joy, innocence, and more. Seymour’s own character arc speaks to this, as he is so psychologically unstable and irreparably disenchanted with the “real” world he’s expected to now inhabit that he tragically commits suicide.
On the other hand, it’s possible that the bananafish represent shallow, gluttonous people like Seymour’s own wife, Muriel, who has an insatiable appetite for consumer goods. The bananafish metaphor suggests that people like Muriel were “normal” once, but once they had their first taste of luxury (bananas), they couldn’t stop. Overindulging in luxury and materialism makes a person fevered (banana fever) in that they’re frenzied and frantic in the pursuit of more and more wealth. This attitude then kills them on a spiritual level, which ties back to Seymour’s nickname for Muriel, “Miss Spiritual Tramp,” implying that she is devoid of spirituality just like a tramp (a vagrant or beggar) is devoid of money or a stable home.
[…] “I just saw one.”
“Saw what, my love?”
“A bananafish.”
“My God, no!” said the young man. “Did he have any bananas in his mouth?”
“Yes,” Said Sybil. “Six.”
The young man suddenly picked up one of Sybil’s wet feet, which were drooping over the end of the float, and kissed the arch.
“Hey!” said the owner of the foot, turning around.
“Hey, yourself! We’re going in now. You had enough?”
“No!”
“Sorry,” he said, and pushed the float toward shore […].
Related Characters:
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Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Perfect Day for Bananafish LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Bananafish Symbol Timeline in A Perfect Day for Bananafish
The timeline below shows where the symbol Bananafish appears in A Perfect Day for Bananafish. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
A Perfect Day for Bananafish
Seymour tells Sybil that they can go swimming and look for a bananafish. He sheds his bathrobe, revealing his blue swim trunks, folds his towel neatly, and takes...
(full context)
...go; he assures her he won’t and declares that it is a “perfect day for bananafish.” He explains that bananafish look like normal fish, but they swim into holes filled with...
(full context)
...delight. On the other side of the wave, Sybil announces proudly that she saw a bananafish with six bananas in its mouth. At this, Seymour lifts one of Sybil’s wet ankles...
(full context)
