Quote 1
She went over to the window seat for her cigarettes, lit one, and returned to her seat on the bed. "Mother?" she said, exhaling smoke. (1.44)
Notice that Muriel is indoors, and surrounded by smoke and nail polish. The atmosphere is very different from that in which Seymour is placed – outside, on the beach, in the sun and the clean air.
Quote 2
"I just got here, Mother. This is the first vacation I've had in years, and I'm not going to just pack everything and come home," said the girl. (1.60)
Muriel's reasons for staying are essentially selfish; she isn't considering Seymour or his well-being.
Quote 3
"I couldn't travel now anyway. I'm so sunburned I can hardly move." (1.60)
Some critics think that the sun/sun block/paleness of various characters is a metaphor for different degrees of innocence. See "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" for more.
Quote 4
"Well. How's your blue coat?"
"All right. I had some of the padding taken out." (1.83-4)
Many have pointed out the color imagery in "Perfect Day for Bananafish" and suggested that blue represents innocence; check out "Symbols, Imagery, Allegory" for the scoop.
Quote 5
"All right. Just all right, though. We couldn't get the room we had before the war," said the girl. (1.87)
In other words, things are fundamentally different after the war than they were before.
Quote 6
"He won't take his bathrobe off? Why not?"
"I don't know. I guess because he's so pale." (1.104-5)
There's that sun imagery again. If getting sun represents being jaded by wordly experiences, then Seymour has taken steps to preserve his innocence.
Quote 7
"All right, all right. He calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948," the girl said, and giggled. (1.34)
This gives us some insight into Muriel's relationship with Seymour. Her giggle implies that she doesn't take him too seriously – which may or may not be a good thing. On the one hand, she misses the gravity of his illness. On the other hand, she balances out his serious, moody spirituality. Check out Salinger's story, "Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters," for more insights.
Quote 8
"He's played the piano both nights we've been here." (1.70)
We know from the other Glass stories that Seymour is a poet; now we are reminded again that he is, at heart, a sort of artist.
Quote 9
"I don't know, Mother. I guess because he's so pale and all," said the girl. "Anyway, after Bingo he and his wife asked me if I wouldn't like to join them for a drink. So I did. His wife was horrible. You remember that awful dinner dress we saw in Bonwit's window? The one you said you'd have to have a tiny, tiny – " (1.74)
Muriel is so distracted by materialistic things like fashion that she can't focus on the matter at hand, what the psychiatrist had to say about Seymour. Spiritually, she is at a very different place than is her husband.
Quote 10
"You know Seymour," said the girl, and crossed her legs again. "He says he doesn't want a lot of fools looking at his tattoo."
"He doesn't have any tattoo! Did he get one in the Army?"
"No, Mother. No, dear," said the girl, and stood up. (1.107-9)
Much of what Seymour says implies a hidden – and often spiritual – meaning.
Quote 11
"Mother," the girl interrupted, "listen to me. You remember that book he sent me from Germany? You know – those German poems. What'd I do with it? I've been racking my – " (1.36)
Seymour is clearly quite earnest in asking Muriel to read the poems (Rilke, we can infer). But she doesn't take his request seriously at all, and instead misplaces the book he so valued.
Quote 12
"I mean all he does is lie there. He won't take his bathrobe off." (1.103)
Seymour makes attempts to insulate and isolate himself from the rest of the world. He's afraid to reveal any of himself.
Quote 13
"I said he drove very nicely, Mother. Now, please. I asked him to stay close to the white line, and all, and he knew what I meant, and he did. He was even trying not to look at the trees-you could tell. Did Daddy get the car fixed, incidentally?" (1.24)
We can infer from this passage that Seymour, perhaps intentionally, drove a car into a tree. Some readers have posited that this aggression is sexual in nature.