Franny and Zooey

The novella starts from the first-person narration of Buddy Glass. Buddy says that the three characters do not want him to tell the story, but that he wants to tell it anyway. He fears that because this story deals with God, that people will take it as a mystical one. However, Buddy feels that the story is a mixture of the mystical and the romantic.

Zooey Glass sits in the bathtub rereading a four-year-old letter from Buddy. Zooey has seven brothers and sisters, but the oldest brother, Seymour, died by suicide seven years earlier. Another brother, Walt, died in an explosion fighting in WWII. All seven of the siblings appeared as children and adolescents on the quiz radio show “It’s a Wise Child” for 16 years. After the radio show, Zooey became a television actor.

Buddy starts the letter by telling Zooey that he should pursue his PhD before he becomes an actor, because he will have something to fall back on. Buddy writes that he wishes he had his BA but that he dropped out of college because Seymour already had his PhD, and he knew he would never be able to catch up to him. He tells Zooey that he knows that he is writing to him, three years to the day since Seymour died. Buddy tells Zooey about the importance of his education. Since the age difference was so large between Seymour and Buddy and the younger children, Buddy and Seymour acted as mentors to Franny and Zooey, and they decided not to push academia on the children because they did not want them to have the pressure of being a child savant. Buddy explains that he and Seymour taught them about religious figures such as Jesus and Buddha, rather than academic figures such as Shakespeare, because they wanted their siblings to be well-rounded. Buddy knows that Zooey resents this, but he tells him that they can talk about it in person someday. Buddy apologizes to Zooey for not being around more for him and Franny when Seymour died, but he feared the questions that they would ask him. He realizes now that Franny was only 13 years old and that he should have been there for her more. Buddy says that their brother Waker told him once that Zooey was the only sibling who was bitter about Seymour’s death, but he forgave him for it. Buddy tells Zooey he does not know what else to say to him, except that if he wants to be an actor, he should do it with all his might. After he finishes reading the letter, Zooey puts it back into the envelope. He picks up a typed manuscript lying on the bathmat and starts to read the dialogue.

As Zooey reads, his mother Bessie knocks on the door because she needs something from the bathroom. Zooey puts down the manuscript and pulls the curtain of the bath for privacy, then tells Bessie to come inside. Bessie searches through the medicine cabinet, dressed in the floral robe she normally wears at home. She asks Zooey why he has not spoken to Franny yet. Zooey tells her that he spoke to Franny for two hours the night before, but that he has not spoken to her yet today because he woke up recently. Bessie complains to Zooey about how Buddy does not have a phone so she cannot reach him. She worries about what Buddy would do in an emergency, but Zooey tells her that he would rather die than not have his privacy. Bessie tells Zooey that she is very worried about Franny and that she wishes Buddy knew about it. She picks up the manuscript on the ground and admonishes Zooey to take better care of Mr. LeSage’s work. Zooey asks her to leave, but Bessie continues complaining about Franny. She says that Les, her husband, does not help her at all in these situations and she does not know what to do. She says that Les lives in the past and keeps imagining that if he turns the radio on, he will hear his children on the game show. Zooey asks her what she expects anyone to do about Franny, and Bessie says she wants someone to talk to Franny and find out what is happening to her. She complains that Franny has not eaten anything in days. Zooey makes fun of Bessie worrying about Franny’s eating habits. Bessie sits in silence and thinks about Seymour and Walt. She misses them but she does not know how to talk about it with Zooey. Bessie leaves Zooey in the bath.

When Zooey shaves later, Bessie comes back into the bathroom. Bessie asks Zooey if he thinks that she should contact Waker, who is a priest. She knows that Franny should see a psychiatrist, but she wonders if talking to Waker might help her. Zooey says he does not think that Franny’s problem is religious. Bessie says she knows that the book that Franny carries with her right now is the source of all her problems. She tells him that Lane keeps calling because he is worried and that he told her about Franny’s book. Zooey says that Lane does not care about Franny beyond the degree to which her mental state affects him, because Lane is not a nice person. Zooey asks Bessie what Lane thinks is wrong with Franny, and she says that the book she is reading is a religious fanatical book that she got from the library. Zooey tells Bessie that Franny did not get the book from the library, but from Seymour’s desk, where it had been sitting since he died. Zooey calls Bessie stupid for not putting it together, but Bessie explains that she never goes into Seymour’s room because it makes her too sad. Zooey apologizes to her, but Bessie continues talking about Buddy. Zooey slams his hand down on the sink and tells her that he is tired of hearing about his siblings all the time. He says Buddy is trying to be like Seymour, and he wishes that Buddy would just die by suicide, too. Bessie goes silent. Zooey tells Bessie that Seymour and Buddy ruined Zooey and Franny by teaching them so much when they were little. Now that they are older, they get bored by any conversation. Bessie interrupts him by saying that she wishes he would get married. Zooey brushes her off and asks her to leave him alone. Bessie says she wants to call a psychoanalyst and Zooey tells her that if she does that, Franny will be committed to a psychiatric hospital. Zooey explains what The Way of a Pilgrim is about. He tells Bessie why Franny is repeating the prayer, because eventually a person aligns the prayer with their breathing, and they can speak to God. Zooey asks to be left alone because he has a meeting in the afternoon. Bessie stares at him and says that she does not know what the point of her children being so smart is if they cannot be happy. Then she leaves Zooey alone.