User:Mmeyer7/sandbox

Article evaluation

• Everything in the article is information related to Feed. Nothing was distracting to me.
• Article seems neutral to me. Only one small section that seemed a little biased toward Anderson was under Style, mentioning his "ability." May not be biased, may just be worded a little off.
• Only thing that seems to be underrepresented is "Authority" under the Themes heading. "Language" and "Consumerism" have more information under them than the "Authority" section. Seems that more could be written about the overall effects of authority on all of the characters, not just Titus. There are also no citations for that section.
• "Authority" section needs citation. The only link that did not work was the last in the citations list, from Vermont Libraries.
• One section missing a reference. References come from scholarly journals, reviews, and timelines of awards that Anderson has won for the novel. All references seem neutral.
• Some information from earlier years, but that is because that is when book was published. Information otherwise seems updated. Information could be added to Themes.

Plan of Action for Faulkner

• There should be more content at the introduction of the article, like the way Light in August is introduced. After this, I would want to rewrite the structure of the sentences that are currently in the Plot Summary section. The Plot Summary section needs to be more focused and direct, rather than giving every detail possible from the novel. After this, I would want to contribute to sections devoted to Themes, Characters, and Reception, much like in Light in August. This is valuable information about the novel that would improve the article quality as it sits now.
• I would first research by reading the novel itself. After that, I would research in academic journals. Faulkner is a significant modernist writer, so there should be current research regarding his work. I would specifically look for research on themes of the novel, and perhaps the influence and significance of it. Further, I think I would look through articles from The New York Times or other periodicals to find how the novel was received.
• I would recommend changing the writing style of the plot summary, as the section right now is difficult to read and hard to follow as someone who has never read the novel before. I would also recommend shortening the plot summary, as it seems to include far too much information than necessary. Regarding the Analysis section, I would recommend rewriting with more citations. The way it is currently written makes it seems a little biased. Further, I think there could be entire sections devoted to themes and the title alone, as the article presently makes it seem that the title is significant. After Influence and Significance, there should be a section on the Reception that the novel received. Faulkner is a significant writer, so I am sure that the novel had some sort of reception.

Potential Articles

• A Perfect Day for Bananafish
• Rip Van Winkle
• Things Fall Apart
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Tell-Tale Heart

Top Choices:

• A Perfect Day for Bananafish

The plot summary needs to be cleaned up, as there are too many details currently. The introduction could be broken up into a "Background" section or something similar, as there's a lot of history and background info that could be placed somewhere outside the introduction. Further, we can add a section for the characters, as the characters appear in other Salinger works.

• Rip Van Winkle

Can add to Themes and Literary Forerunners sections. There also needs to be more references and less bias, and citations to reliable sources that need to be added.

• We decided on these articles because both of us are a little familiar with the content, and we did not want to work on an article for a story that we have not read before. Also, there were obvious things that we knew we could tackle in these articles, whereas the other articles already had a lot of ground covered.

Revised Plan of Action

• We plan to move forward with the short story article A Perfect Day for Bananafish. We are also going to contribute to the Analysis section adding scholarly research on the novel because the section is very limited at the moment. We also plan to add a section for the characters because, even in a short story, their roles are something readers should consider. Finally, we would like to simplify and edit the plot summary section as well as create a stronger introduction. In the introduction we plan to have a background/ critical review subheading since some of the information about how the story was received is already present.

Bibliography.

• Alsen, Eberhard. A Reader's Guide to J.d. Salinger. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print.
  • This text contains biographical information on Salinger and details about his popular works. Understanding who Salinger was as a person is key to understanding his writing, so Alsen includes biographical details before the discussion of each work that is explored. Salinger's writings are explored within subjects like reception, themes, and interpretations.
    • This source will be useful for the background section, with publication and reception. It will also be useful to explore the characters of the Glass family that are included in the story.
• Cotter, James Finn. "A Source for Seymour's Suicide: Rilke's Voices and Salinger's Nine Stories." ''Papers on Language & Literature'', vol. 25, no. 1, Winter 89, p. 83. EBSCOhost.Web. 30 April 2018.
• Rosenbaum, Ron. "The Flight from Fortress Salinger." New York Times Book Review, Oct 08 2000: 16,7.16. ProQuest. Web. 20 Apr. 2018, https://nyti.ms/2qXFFQr.
  • This article focuses on the relation between Salinger's writing and his experiences in the war. Salinger's daughter, Margaret Salinger, recounts her early memories of her father's life after war as well as its impact on his life. The article exclusively focuses on Salinger's most popular works, one of which is "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". Margaret Salinger relates Seymour Glass's wartime experience, the main character of the short story, to the time Salinger spent in World War II.
    • This article will be useful for the background section in which we provide information about Salinger's experience in war and the character of Seymour Glass.
• “JD Salinger.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 19 Aug. 2015, www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/jd-salinger-salinger-timeline/2838/.
  • This source has critical analyses of Salinger's works, interviews and clips from documentaries about his work, as well as a complete timeline of the major events in Salinger's life. Under each timeline event there is a small snippet of information regarding the event. This source will be useful for including dates that are not already in the Wikipedia article.
    • This source will be used in the background section of the article we plan to elaborate on. The timelines gives context for the events that came before and after Salinger's publishing of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" as well as small amount of information about the novel and publisher.
• Morrice, Polly. “Descended From Salinger - Books - Review.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/books/review/Morrice-t.html.
  • This article gives an overview of the Glass family, tracing their traits throughout Salinger's works. The characters are named in relation to the text they appear in, and how the time period of publication relates to the characters' motives and behaviors. Morrice pulls criticisms of the characters from other sources as well, which put the characters in a negative light.
    • This article will be useful for the characters section, as it gives characteristics of Seymour, and the overall Glass family.
• Salerno, Shane, and David Shields. Salinger. Simon & Schuster, 2014.
  • This book is a biography composed of over 200 interviews and other documents that detail Salinger's life and works. Salerno and Shields recount the history of Salinger, including his writing process and when he published his stories. Understanding the background knowledge of Salinger that this text provides is useful when considering the context of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish."
    • This text will be used to explore and identify the background information on "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," including the context, process, and publication to The New Yorker.
• Malcolm, Janet. “Justice to J.D. Salinger.” The New York Review of Books, www.nybooks.com/articles/2001/06/21/justice-jd-salinger/.
  • This article discusses Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in relation to his other works by tracking the Glass family and other characters that appear in multiple Salinger works. Specifically, the article goes in depth with the character of Seymour Glass and puts him into the context of Salinger's other stories. This article also explains the black and white world view that is represented through the word Bananafish.
    • This article will be useful for the plot summary and characters section as it goes in depth with the characters and gives a synopsis of the plot.
• Judis, John B. “The Salinger Generation.” The New Republic, 30 Jan. 2010, newrepublic.com/article/72876/the-salinger-generation.
  • This article is a review of Salinger's short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and the author connects memories in his own life to his reading of the story. He reflects on the characters and makes connections to a movie and societal life around the time the short story was published. He also summarizes important parts of the plot and gives his opinions on the characters and their actions.
    • This article will be useful for the background and critical review section of Wikipedia article because the author offers his own personal opinions and gives contextual background for the novel in relation to society and media at the time.
• Salinger, J. D. “A Perfect Day For Bananafish.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/01/31/a-perfect-day-for-bananafish.

Background on Style and Publication draft

Despite some differing critical opinion, Salinger’s Nine Stories are not separate entities published together. Author Eberhard Alsen, in A Reader’s Guide to J.D Salinger, observes that the stories evolve chronologically. They change in a way that mirrors Salinger’s personal life and his experiences with religion. Many scholars and critics have analyzed and reviewed the character of Seymour Glass in regards to his war time experiences and suicide.His daughter Margaret Salinger recalls her father's stories from World War II and makes a connection between Salinger and the character of Seymour in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". Author Ron Rosenbaum draws from Margaret Salinger's memories to elicit a connection between Salinger's progression from bleak to optimistic, and the spiritual writing style in Nine Stories.

After the triumph of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” Salinger allowed the New Yorker to have the first chance at printing all of his subsequent writing by signing a contract with the magazine.

Salinger was greatly influenced by Ernest Hemingway's writing style and narration method. The vague description common to Hemingway's narrative dialogue appears in several of Salinger's stories and novels. Hemingway writes in such a way that reader has to interpret and draw their own conclusions when characters are speaking.

Before publication of the story, Salinger had reworked the details in a meeting with William Maxwell. Originally, the story consisted merely of Seymour’s incident on the beach with little Sybil Carpenter, and the consequent suicide. Maxwell argued that there was no clear explanation that justified Seymour killing himself. After the author’s encounter with Maxwell, the portion of the story with Muriel speaking to her mother on the phone was incorporated.

Reception and Criticism Draft

When "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" was first published the initial reception and criticism of the short story was positive. Readers were accepting of the new tone being presented to literature through Salinger's short stories and it was the release of "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" that popularized Salinger's name in the literary community.

Though "Slight Rebellion Off Madison" was published in the New Yorker and met with acclaim, Salinger continued to face rejection afterwards. The New Yorker consistently dismissed further stories submitted by Salinger. Unfazed, Salinger continued to submit work to the New Yorker because he believed that the editors of the magazine would publish more of his stories. After sending the initial draft of "The Bananafish" to the New Yorker, Harold Ober, agent of the author, received a letter from William Maxwell, a fiction editor at the magazine. The letter, from January 22, 1947, stated: "We like parts of The Bananafish by J.D. Salinger very much, but it seems to us to lack any discernible story or point. If Mr. Salinger is around town, perhaps he'd like to come in and talk to us about New Yorker stories."

Much of the criticism regarding Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" involves the character of Seymour Glass, who makes an appearance in several other of Salinger's short stories. Most of the content fueling Seymour's criticism involves his war experiences and suicide. Critics interpret evidence from the story to determine what the actual cause of Seymour's suicide was due to conflicting reasoning presented in other stories that include the Glass family. Some believe it was the entire world that drove Seymour to madness while others draw a connection to post-traumatic stress.

According to critic Janet Malcolm, the world portrayed in the story is both tangled and simplified by Salinger. This "dualism" can be found in other works of Salinger, as he continually depicts life "as a battleground between the normal and abnormal, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the talentless and the gifted, the well and the sick."