In JD Salinger's "Nine Stories" there are two stories that indicate a death and, remarkably, these two stories are what begins and ends this captivating piece of literature. The first story is called "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and features a man who lived through the hell of World War II, which allows him to see things from a different perspective. The latter is called “Teddy” and revolves around an ingenious young boy who seems to have a speculative mindset and a very deep outlook on life. In both stories, the reader is introduced to a "genius", but geniuses, with all the potential available, eventually go mad and commit suicide. However, this turns out to be Salinger's point of view. This demonstrates a fine line that separates the type of outlook or state of mind that one might identify as genius from the type of insanity that can lead to spontaneous suicide. Seymour Glass is the main character in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and is also the one who concocts the banana fish story as seen in the passage above. He tells this story to Sybil, a four-year-old girl who interacts with Seymour on the beach. She and her mother are staying at the same hotel as Seymour and his wife, Muriel. We immediately see that he is an imaginative boy who invents a story to please this little girl. At first it's just a simple story to pass the time, but as soon as Seymour commits suicide, it's revealed that it's much more complex than that. The beginning of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” begins with . From the start, we find the story presenting the fatally consumerist American. The story goes on to describe a girl wearing a Saks blouse reading a pocket-sized magazine titled "Sex Is Fun or Hell." Here it is... middle of paper ......senger on the ship that if he fractured his skull in the pool and died, it wouldn't be tragic at all. He would just do what he was supposed to do. Both of these events support the supposed death. The deaths of both characters at the beginning and end of the stories emphasize the point Salinger is trying to make. Seymour concocts a crazy story about a banana fish that has a deep interest in the human condition and Teddy ponders the very reality of life itself. These two characters have a strong and insightful mind, the replica of a “genius” but they end their days. Salinger makes his characters commit suicide to contrast genius with the madness that sometimes results from it. It explores the fragility of human life and establishes a fine line that separates the mindset of a genius from the possible madness that can develop in a person..