Narrator and point of view

The short story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J. D. Salinger is a third-person narration. The narrator is external to the events he presents, using a technique called ‘bird’s eye view’.

This technique means the narrator does not only follow one character but can reveal what different characters do at the same time. While Muriel is talking with her mother, Seymour is on the beach playing with Sybil; the narrator presents both series of actions.

The narrator only shows the reader limited information about the main characters. Although the narrator shows us what Muriel is doing while she is alone, we don’t have access to her thoughts: “She was a girl who for a ringing phone dropped exactly nothing. She looked as if her phone had been ringing continually ever since she had reached puberty.”

The same goes for Seymour or Sybil. Even though the narrator explains some facts about them, nothing is said about their thoughts or motivations. Instead, the narrator prefers to leave the characters t...