Young Women

A reoccurring focus by J.D Salinger in all three of his short stories is that most of his characters are younger women who have encountered issues in their personal lives. In Bananafish, Muriel is the young woman who was recently married and she encounters the issue of her husband's mental issue, which eventually leads to her being widowed at a young age. In Uncle Wiggily, although Eloise has a young daughter, the story focuses a lot on her past and her younger years when she was in love with Walt and how she encountered the issue of his death in the novel. In War With the Eskimos, Ginnie is confronted with the issue of confronting a "friend" about her economic issues and how they need to share the cost of the taxi. Just as Muriel and Eloise had men involved in their stories, Ginnie also seems very interested in Selena's brother, which may have taken her mind off of the money. In all of Salinger's short stories so far, we have seen young women who have been encountered with personal issues, all of which have included men.