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Major themes

Salinger's known interest in eastern religious philosophy such as Zen Buddhism and Hindu Advaita Vedanta are evident throughout the book, particularly in a brief section in the second part that includes quotations from spiritual texts. There's also a discussion of whether the book is a "mystical story" or a "love story" in the introduction to the second section, as speculated by the book's "narrator," Buddy Glass (who decides it's the latter). Gerald Rosen, in his short 1977 book Zen in the Art of J. D. Salinger, observes that Franny and Zooey could be interpreted as a modern Zen tale, with the main character, Franny, progressing over the course of the book from a state of ignorance to the deep wisdom of enlightenment.