For Esmé-- With Love and Squalor

At the beginning of the story, the narrator is drawn to Esmé because the horrors of the real world have matured her early, yet she still retains that child-like innocence. At the end of the story, her letter and the wristwatch she sends him is a symbol of hope. Esmé, a child, has experienced the horrors of war by losing her parents to it, yet her faculties remain intact. Sergeant X draws inspiration from this.

In the first part of the story, Salinger creates a likeable character that the reader feels close to with first person point of view. In the middle of the story, Salinger switches to third person. This creates a sense of alienation because the reader no longer has a personal relationship with the narrator, who has now been rendered unrecognizable by the war.

"For Esmé-- With Love and Squalor"

The Parcel

by J. D. Salinger

Aftermath

Clay leaves, and Sergeant X discovers a parcel with a letter. He opens the letter first. It is from Esmé and Charles. In the parcel he finds Esmé's wristwatch, the face of which has been broken in transit. Sergeant X suddenly feels sleepy, and this gives him hope that he will someday be okay again.

The war is over, and the narrator transforms into Sergeant X. His psyche crumbling, he has just gotten out of the hospital after having a mental breakdown. Trying to keep the PTSD symptoms at bay, he sits alone in his quarters, smoking a cigarette. His partner during the war, Clay, bursts into the room. He blathers on about his girl back home, Loretta, and other unimportant things, which irritates Sergeant X and makes him feel worse.

Change

Eventually, Esmé says goodbye. Before departing, she asks him to write a story exclusively for her having to do with squalor. He writes his address down for her so that she may write him, and they part ways.

At this point in the story, the narrator warns the reader of a change of scene and characters. He assures us that he will still be in the story, but in disguise.

Esmé

The girl engages the narrator in a conversation which reveals that her name is Esmé and that she and her brother, Charles, are orphans, both of their parents having been killed in the war. She had been very close with her father, and she wears his military wristwatch as a memoir. Esmé is very precocious and mature for her age, so the narrator is rather impressed by her and finds that he enjoys her company.

The Tearoom

The Choir Girl

After leaving the church, the narrator goes to a tearoom. Shortly after the waitress serves his tea, the choir girl he was so taken with walks in with her younger brother and governess. Eventually, she spots him staring and comes over to his table.

The narrator enters a church in which children's choir practice is taking place, and the children sing beautifully. Of all the children, one young girl fascinates him. She has, in his opinion, the best voice, and is very lady-like and pretty.

April of 1944

The narrator, a young aspiring writer enlisted in a pre-Invasion training course in Devon, England, finds himself taking a walk into town on a rainy Saturday before leaving and being assigned to infantry.

The Invitation

The story opens with a wedding invitation. The narrator is invited to a wedding that he desperately wants to attend. His wife, however, reminds him of plans made to see his dear mother-in-law. In lieu of attending the wedding, the narrator writes the bride a letter.