Franny and Zooey

Buddy’s letter is a motif that represents nostalgia and hope. Zooey keeps the letter with him to keep his passion alive. Through Buddy’s letter, Zooey finds the words to comfort Franny and connect with her in a meaningful way. Even though Buddy at first suggests that Zooey should pursue academia so that he has a career to fall back on if his acting ambitions fail, at the end of the letter he changes his mind and tells Zooey to pursue acting if it gives him happiness. Zooey and Franny both have difficulty finding happiness, but through rereading Buddy’s letter, Zooey reminds himself of the reason why he decided to pursue acting. Acting gives Zooey a feeling of happiness that is absent for him in the rest of his life. Although it takes him a while to advise Franny, he eventually tells her what Buddy told him four years earlier: that she should pursue whatever makes her happy, whether that is acting, academia, or spirituality. Zooey’s words give Franny hope because she realizes that finding meaning in life does not necessarily have to be grandiose, but it does need to come from her passions.

Seymour’s room is a motif that represents grief and loss. Seymour’s room remains frozen in time because no one in the house wants to re-enter it and feel the grief of losing him all over again. Every time a character re-enters Seymour’s room, they revisit their grief. Bessie tells Zooey that she does not go into Seymour’s room, because it makes her too sad, which is why she does not realize that Franny’s book is from Seymour. At the end of the novella, Zooey enters Seymour’s room after inadvertently making Franny cry. He feels at a loss and does not know how to help her, and he believes that entering Seymour’s room will give him the insight he needs. From the sanctuary of Seymour’s room, Zooey decides to call Franny, pretending to be Buddy. Although Franny never learns where Zooey is calling from, Zooey’s action shows an attempt to give Franny a way to speak to Seymour, even if only symbolically. Seymour’s room remains frozen in time, but the family he leaves behind uses his room as a conduit to comfort each other in their grief, even though they cannot speak to Seymour anymore.