[Bananafish] presentations and questions

[Yocum, Daniel R Civ 21 CES/CEOE]

Everything I have read indicates no observance by Jerome David at all.
It seems his father was, for the most part, assimilated as well.
Religiously there did not exist a synagogue in America that would have
allowed him to become a member since he does not qualify as a Jew.
Religious Jews reckon membership in the Tribe matrilinealy.   Hew would
have to convert to be considered a non-gentile in any religious
community.  Maybe this'void' character is related to the situation or
the differences in under between Gentiles and Jews.  Gentiles would
consider him Jewish, Jews would not, a sort of void state or existence.

Daniel  







hello to all...
- I've read some essays, and it seems that the Jewish element is
interpreted 
as some sort of "void" character in the novel...I personally believe
that 
unless you are Potok and a few other similar literary personalities,
there 
is not explicit need to envelop the "jewness" of the Glass family simply

because we are talking upper-west-side-building-with-a-doorman-slang..I
find 
it would be an unnecesary contour to an already rich landscape. They
(ah! 
the evil academic "they"!) even hinted that Bloomberg is the only real
jew! 
To you all brave and bold...do you think the jewish element is relevant?