J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [25]
Jerry now found himself in an embarrassing position and was perhaps fearful of Oona O’Neill’s reaction. The world had become obsessed with the war effort, and people could speak of little else. Radio, movies, newspapers, and magazines fed the frenzy. While almost everyone he knew had enlisted for service, he remained in his parents’ apartment, at the age of twenty-three, barred from fulfilling his obligation at a time of war by a minor heart condition. To make matters worse, his chosen profession was selling him short. After he had told everyone about the imminent publication of “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” The New Yorker gave no indication of ever releasing it.
With no one else to turn to, he petitioned Valley Forge founder Colonel Milton G. Baker, pleading for intervention.7 The appeal proved unnecessary when the army relaxed its classification standards and Salinger soon found himself deemed suitable for service. In April 1942, his draft notice arrived.
Jerry completed the questionnaire with relish: his official enlistment records are peppered with his unique sense of humor. Under “civilian occupation,” Salinger claimed to be a carpenter of railway cars. When asked to declare the extent of his education, he admitted only to “grammar school.”8 Regardless of his draft board high jinks, he was relieved to begin military service.
Yet, with reality sinking in that he was now leaving home, perhaps to fight a war rather than to write novels, Salinger began to review his motives. His first enlistment attempt had been an effort to draw him away from home and been driven mainly by frustration, while his feelings after Pearl Harbor had been largely patriotic. Facing his parents’ anguish over seeing their son leave for war, Salinger encountered a conflict of responsibilities. To say that he was torn about joining the army would be an overstatement. Perhaps to his own surprise, he discovered a bond with home and family that he had never expressed before. Having previously sought to distance himself, he began to develop an appreciation for the simple things that bind family members together and to contemplate the common yet complex dynamics of family structures.
There also arose within Salinger a fear that he might be leaving a world to which he would not return. Not simply fear of death but fear of a world yet again swept away, the world of home and the world of simple beauty. Something within Salinger, even at this early date, perceived a world that was quickly losing its innocence.
“The Last and Best of the Peter Pans” is a story in which Salinger examines his own mixed response to induction into the army and leaving home. At the same time, he establishes the family of Holden Caulfield as a kind of surrogate for his own. “The Last and Best of the Peter Pans” was never published and remains in the archives of Story Press, which were donated to Princeton University in 1965. It is an intensely personal work that examines what was arguably Salinger’s closest relationship: that with his mother. “The Last and Best of the Peter Pans” remains the deepest insight into the strong character of Miriam Salinger, her protective bond with her son, and his conflicting feelings regarding it.
Salinger aligns himself completely with the narrator of “Peter Pans,” Holden’s older brother, Vincent Caulfield. Although mentioned, Holden does not appear in the story. Instead, “The Last and Best of the Peter Pans” is largely a dialogue between Vincent and his mother, Mary Moriarity. Vincent begins by describing his mother’s enveloping personality and striking red hair. One day he discovers that she has intercepted his draft board questionnaire from the mail and hidden it in a kitchen drawer. Enraged, Vincent confronts her. A long argument ensues between them over the questionnaire and the army. Mary defends her actions, protesting that Vincent would not be happy in the service. In