The social consequences of war

The stories that appear in this collection were originally published in the years following World War II. Many men were finding it difficult to adjust to normal civilian life following the extreme stress of combat. Many women also had a hard time coping with the absence or loss of loved ones. Many of the characters in Salinger's stories are dealing with these hardships in one way or another.

The narrator of "For Esme with Love and Squalor" is the most direct example of this theme of Salinger's. A thoughtful, quiet young man emerges from the fighting in Europe severely disturbed and teetering on the brink of insanity. Where he used to take pleasure in reading and rereading simple newsy letters from home, after the war he cannot bring himself to finish even one. When his friend tries to interest him in listening to the...