DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/YF7E-N564
Defense Date
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
A. Bryant Mangum
Abstract
J.D. Salinger's "Hapworth 16, 1924," his last published work, is notorious for the initial critical silence it received, as well as the subsequent general consensus that it was a text to revile if not avoid. This thesis proposes that while "Hapworth" is a difficult and perplexing piece, there is a good deal about it that deserves if not outright praise, then a close critical re-examination. Assuming the "author" of the story is not the seven-year-old version of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" suicide Seymour Glass, as the story purports, but his grieving younger brother Buddy, who has spent the years since his brother's death trying to come to terms with it. "Hapworth" is Buddy's final--and perhaps finally successful--attempt to do so.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
December 2011