The work of J.D. Salinger is remarkable for its inclusion of some very interesting female characters. First is Phoebe from
Catcher. She is remarkable because she represents the anima, or the female side of the protagonist. Whereas Holden has difficulty relating to adults and to almost everyone else in the book, considering them all phonies ("I was surrounded by phonies."), he
does cherish his little sister. To him, she represents all that is good and fine in human relationships. In essence, the character represents an absent part of Holden's personality, the part of a human personality that
can relate to other people. Significantly, Phoebe can relate to her parents and to Holden and to others. This is something that Holden has yet to integrate into his own persona.
Another female character that Salinger created to represent the spiritual side of himself was Franny Glass. Franny is one of the eight Glass children in the fictional world Salinger created, a world that carries over into a number of stories and novellas, including
Franny and Zooey and
Seymour: An Introduction. Franny, the youngest of seven children (as explained in a footnote in
Zooey), is on a quest to find spiritual knowledge. The biography of Salinger written by Paul Alexander offers insights into why this is actually a biographical fact about the author. It turns out that Salinger himself was on a spirtiual quest, and the character of Franny pursues a goal similar to his own quest for spiritual enlightenment. In
Franny she has a conflict with her materialistic boyfriend Lane Coutrell; and in
Zooey, she has a nervous breakdown and is talked out of a delirious crying jag by her older brother Zooey. His comment that "There isn't anyone out there who isn't Seymour's Fat Lady" suggests that her attempt to reach enlightenment cannot be confined to reading her Jesus Prayer book. She must go outside the prayers and engage the world in dialogue by acting and doing. His message, which Franny "gets" in the concluding words of the story (which is why she smiles at the end) is the classic message of Zen Buddhism: You need to be detached and to quench desire, and yet you still need to act and be part of the day-to-day world. "You can say the Jesus Prayer from now till doomsday, but if you don't realize that the only thing that counts in the religious life is de
tachment, I don't see how you'll ever even move an
inch," says Zooey. "The only thing you can do now, the only re
ligious thing you can do is
act." The message is received by Franny on the last page of the book because it gives her peace and allows her to pick up where she left off, without crying or feeling that she's lost her mind. In fact, her smile indicates she has found peace and enlightenment.
These female characters are clearly parts of Salinger's persona, and as such they are full-blown projections from the mind of the artist to the pages of his work. What lesson can they teach a writer? The primary lesson is that when creating female characters it's vital to avoid stereotypes and instead seek within yourself for the key elements of your own personality that might be relevant to your story. The deeper you dig the stronger your female character will be. If you're a male writer, you can use your own
anima to create realistic female characters. (In Jung's psychology, the
anima is the female psychological characteristics that all males possess, just as the
animus is the male part of a woman's psyche.) The task is not as difficult as it seems. It was done by D.H. Lasrence, Flaubert, and J.D. Salinger, to name but a few. Aim for the heart of the psyche and your female characters will live and breathe like true people.
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