A. Leonard
ENG 121-04
March 3, 2000
Major Paper #1

1)      In “For Esme- With Love and Squalor,” J.D. Salinger addresses a part of every person’s life.  Everyone experiences periods in their life when they question the world and what is happening around them.  Most people probably do not experience it quite as dramatic as the writer of the story, Sergeant X, does.  He finds himself in the middle of the pure madness of war, and is having a hard time coping with the realities of the situation.  Eventually, people find their way of dealing with these moments.  Sergeant X relies on his memories of Esme to help him.  The theme of the story is that the innocence of youth can serve as a healing power in times when the world seems to be falling apart. 
2)      “For Esme-With Love and Squalor” is essentially a story within a story; this is important to the theme of the story because the writer attempts to remove himself from the story (in first person narration) for the purpose of examination (in third person).  This use of point of view makes the reader wonder what is “real” and what the author (inside the story) is “making-up.”  This sounds strange because the whole story is fictitious, but Salinger makes us contemplate this and it adds to the effect of the story.
3)      The first part of the story is told from first person narration.  We are told the reason for writing is “…to edify, to instruct…” the man that Esme is about to marry.  Throughout the first half of the story we are given the impression that the writer is admiring Esme for her youth and innocence, or love as the title suggests.  Before the change to third person narration, we are told that this is going to be the squalid or repulsive part of the story.  The writer then “disguises” himself as Staff Sergeant X.  Even though the point of view changes, we are still able to read what is going through Sergeant X’s mind.  We experience the pain and suffering that he endures.  We are also able to understand how Esme’s innocence is able to end that suffering. 
4)      The main characters in the story help to illustrate the theme by contrasting the two different “worlds” in the story.  Esme, although she only knows the writer for a short time, has a profound impact on him. Esme is intelligent, but it is obvious that she is trying much too hard to impress the author. Her dramatic vocabulary and over use of the word “extremely” is childish and annoying. During the choir practice the coach says that children should “…absorb the meanings of the words they sing, not just mouth them, like silly billy parrots.”
5)      However, it is not the intelligence she displays, it is her innocence and child-like appearance that the writer concentrates on the most. We are told before she approaches that she is giving “qualified smiles”, or appearing sexually mature. The way he describes her crossed ankles and feet as being lovely, further supports the characteristics of her being naïve and not sexually alluring.  The author also notes Esme’s lack of compassion, this also adds to the idea of her as being innocent and unaware of the realities of war.  She describes her father as being  “S-L-A-I-N.” This is later used at the end of the story to mock Esme’s naïve remark that he returns from the war with all his “faculties intact.”
6)      The character of Corporal Z helps to support the theme of the story by contrasting Esme and depicting the world that surrounded Sergeant X in the second part of the story. Corporal Z is looked upon as being an unintelligent person.  The vulgarity that he uses shows that, unlike Esme, he has a very limited vocabulary.  He also seeks Sergeant X’s assistance in letters he writes to his girlfriend.  Corporal Z is portrayed to be a truly uncompassionate person, unlike Esme who is just naïve.  He claims to be a war hero, the writer points out, by wearing a Combat Infantryman’s Badge, “…which, technically, he wasn’t authorized to wear.”  He is told by Sergeant X not to step on the dog when he enters the room.  This is symbolic of Corporal Z’s uncompassionate character.  A “dog” or “dog face” was a common named used to refer to an infantry soldier in World War II.  By wearing the badge he does “step-on”, or disgrace, the soldiers because he is unaware of what they had to endure in the war.
7)      The symbolism of the watch is crucial to the understanding of the story’s theme. We are first told of a watch that Esme is wearing at the beginning of the story. Later in the story the watch reappears, it is clearly a symbol of Esme’s innocence.  In the letter, which accompanies the watch, she writes that it is “shock-proof” and would serve “… as a lucky talisman…” for the writer.  We are told by Corporal Z that Sergeant X is suffering from a nervous breakdown, or shell shock, from the war.  The fact that the watch was shockproof and its crystal was broken makes Sergeant X ponder if “…the watch was otherwise undamaged.”  The watch, like himself, had received a shock.  By winding the watch and finding it didn’t work he would have lost all faith in Esme’s innocence.   Instead, he held the watch, her innocence, for a long period of time.   It was her innocence and love that helped him out of this traumatic and squalid period of his life.
8)      Innocence in a world of death, tyranny, and oppression seems ridiculous.  The world has a way of destroying and making one numb to the ideals and values we once held in our youth.  In Stephen Crane’s novel “The Red Badge of Courage,” we are told a story of a young man’s journey into manhood in the backdrop of the Civil War.  Henry, as did Sergeant X, had a difficult time coming to terms with the realities of war.  Sergeant X dwelled upon his experiences and allowed them to haunt him.  We are told at the end of “The Red Badge of   Courage” that Henry is able to “…rid himself of the red sickness of battle.”  Crane writes that he turns “… with a lover’s thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, (and) cool brooks.”  In “For Esme- With Love and Squalor,” Sergeant X turns to the tranquil memories of innocence triggered by Esme.