Seymour Glass is a veteran on vacation with his wife Muriel. He appears to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from the war. He recently attempted suicide twice. Once while driving his stepfather's car into a tree and another time while trying to jump out of a window. J.D. Salinger's story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," appears to be a simple tale of a couple vacationing in Florida and their encounter with a child named Sybil on the beach. Seymour's relationship with Sybil, upon closer examination, allows us to see that what is really going on is Seymour's search for truth and innocence in the world. Seymour Glass wants more in life than what he has. He is married to a materialistic, upper-class woman named Muriel. "She was a girl who had absolutely nothing to worry about when a phone rang. It seemed like her phone had been ringing continuously since she hit puberty" (Nine Stories, 3). Muriel is a very self-centered woman who only cares about her appearance and her reputation. She seems to care very little about what Seymour is going through. They are supposed to be on vacation for Seymour to get away from everything, but while she is talking to her mother on the phone, she refuses to go when her mother urges him to do so because she hasn't taken a vacation for a very long time. Plus, she doesn't seem very concerned about what's going on with her husband, because even though she told her mom that she told a doctor downstairs about Seymour, it seemed like she really didn't want to continue the conversation with the doctor. because it seemed bad to him that her husband suffered from mental illness...... middle of paper ......because he sees that the openness he has with Sybil is not possible with these adults. He attacks the woman by calling her sneaky. When he has this confrontation with the woman in the elevator, he then realizes that the life he wants is not possible. When the woman leaves the elevator, she does not look back, which may show that she does not want to see Seymour again, the adult world no longer has room for him. Seymour can't be like everyone else or be a child. This is the reason for his suicide. He does not do this because of an illness he contracted because of the war, but he does it because, now being an adult, he cannot lead an innocent and truthful life like a child. Muriel was so self-absorbed that she couldn't even see that this was what he wanted but a child was able to give him this life just for a moment..