“Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948” - “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”
Muriel apprises her mother that “He (Seymour) calls me Miss Spiritual Tramp of 1948.” The term ‘spiritual’ alludes to sacred consecration. Comparatively, the term ‘tramp’ hints at sexual promiscuity. If Seymour’s subtexts of ‘tramp’ relates to sexual promiscuity, then the two terms ( ‘spiritual and tramp’) are unquestionably mutually exclusive. One cannot be saintly and philandering concomitantly, because religion/spirituality does not sanction sexual 'tramping.'
Mary Jane’s marriage - “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut”
J.D Salinger discloses, “Mary Jane had left--same year, same class, almost the same month--to marry an aviation cadet stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, a lean, air-minded boy from Dill, Mississippi, who had spent two of the three months Mary Jane had been married to him in jail for stabbing an M.P.” The aftermath of Mary Jane’s marriage is ironic considering that she forwent her education for matrimony. The incarceration of her husband contributes to the irony of the marriage because Mary Jane was unequivocally espoused to a convict. Furthermore, it is satirical that the summative months that her husband expended behind bars were greater than the single month that they categorically consummated together as a couple. The irony intensifies the condemnation of the marriage.
