This short story, first published in The New Yorker, takes place at a Florida seaside hotel after the Second World War. A young woman, Muriel, talks on the phone with her mother, who worries about her husband Seymour Glass, a veteran who seems unsettled. Seymour meanwhile spends time on the beach and strikes up a gentle, odd conversation with a small girl named Sybil. The story is told in plain, sparkling dialogue, and much remains unsaid. It introduced the Glass family to readers and is often considered one of Salinger's finest and most haunting stories.
Quotes
I never saw so many tigers.