- Why is the narrator so taken by Esme? What is it about her character that fascinates him?
- Youth is often depicted as a time of folly and poor judgment, but not here. How does Salinger characterize youth in this story?
- In your opinion, what are the narrator’s feelings with regards to youth and childhood?
- The narrator himself is a young man – how do you view his development of the course of the story? The strength, innocence, and resilience of childhood are the only things that can counteract the horrors of war in “For Esme – With Love and Squalor. ”
1. I believe Esme takes the narrator aback due to her strikingly impressionable persona, along with her prodigious maturity and innocence. Taking into consideration lack of purity and innocence in the adult world, and love of childhood itself is some of the primary themes within this particular story, I believe that her adolescent candidness is what initially draws Sergeant X to Esme.
Her voice was distinctly separate from the other children’s voices…the sweetest-sounding, the surest, and it automatically led the way. ” Her ability to stand out from the rest of the children primarily caught Sergeant X’s attention; his attention to her pure independence had begun his love for her. As well, I feel as if she represented the characteristics; loss, fear, and hope which were notable results of the War. Esme exemplified a balance between positive and negative, she embodied a hopeful future; a sign that the bad things shall pass.
2. Youth in regards to For Esme – With Love and Squalor is depicted as a time of premature advancement, a time where the innocence of youth had been stolen by the pure destruction of the war. With her advanced vocabulary and maternal skills far beyond her years, Esme illustrates an exceptionally mature young woman.
I believe this coincides with the time and place, during the war children are forced to become a more mature version of hemselves, they soon begin to forget about the true meaning of youth, forget what it really means to have a childhood. With the example of Esme, as a result of the war she had lost both of her primary caregivers, her mother and father, and was forced into the maternal role at a very early stage in her life, “…but it was only when his sister spoke to him that he came around and applied the small of his back to his chair seat. Esme represents a extraordinarily mature, brave and courageous personification of youth. Yet Salinger contrasts Esme’s character with her brothers, he represents a less serious aspect of childhood, the element of immaturity. He continued to cause chaos and stress upon all of his opposing characters; bursting into hysterics, unable to sit still, and creating tension by becoming upset once Sergeant X completed the punch line to his joke.
Salinger represents various aspects of youth within this story but he mainly focuses on the idea of premature maturity, the removal of innocence, and how it affects one’s persona.
3. Salinger characterizes youth as a mature, cultured and complex group in society, he brings light upon a generation of children that had to grow up much faster then recommended, a generation that developed an entirely different persona due to their surroundings. He depicts Esme as a symbol of the strength, bravery and pure intelligence that was demonstrated by the youth.
Although a child, Esme has the capabilities of one much more advanced in their years, she is capable of holding an intelligent conversation with a complete stranger, has an extraordinarily advanced vocabulary and obtains a wit about her that is quite striking, and rare in a child. Salinger makes it clear that he has a high opinion in regards to youth and childhood, a child is quite often thought of as immature, innocent and without knowledge, Salinger changes this.
He opens his reader’s eyes to the possibility that children are able to withhold the intelligence and maturity that an elder is capable of. This statement proves true even till this day, there are many brilliant minds in this world that are substantially younger than most.
4. The transition the protagonist makes within the duration of this story is substantial, yet impressive.
Initially, Sergeant X was a quiet man who found beauty in the simplest ventures, a walk to town amidst the rain, a choir of children singing an unknown lullaby, and even a child whose voice was, “the-sweetest-sounding, the surest. ” He had the ability to withhold a conversation with a young yet remarkably intelligent woman, to entertain a young boy who couldn’t bare to have his punch line discovered, and a love for writing. He was capable of observing the most detailed aspects of ones being, of taking pride in his work, and of feeling excitement.
After his encounter with Esme and her younger brother, he had experienced multiple years participating in tours, fighting until the war had finally ended. Subsequently, he endured a nervous breakdown which in turn was the climax of his post traumatic stress disorder, he became weak and without emotion; no hope for the future. He was unable to sustain a conversation with one of his closest friends, lost interest in all things involving ink and failed to see the beauty in life.
He had lost all of his pride, and was almost ashamed of his actions within the war; he had become a completely different man simply due to the trials and tribulations of the battle he had fought, not only physically but psychologically as well. Although the sudden paradigm shift, once he sees his letter from Esme he has a change of heart and realizes that there is hope for the future, that this child bestowed upon him one of her most prized possessions. Esme gave Sergeant X hope, not only for himself but also for his future, for mankind. This story is a wondrous tail of sadness and joy, fear and reassurance.
