Theme:
Out of all of J.D. Salinger's stories he has one theme that appears in all of his stories, that is the idea of innocence. In the short story For Esme- with Love and Squalor the story starts of showing how innocent the narrator was, we later learn it is because he will soon be going into battle. When he met Esme they had a strong relationship for just meeting each other. His close and honest relationship with Esme showed his innocence and purity. Afterwards, when the narrator went into battle, the war tainted that innocence and he no longer had that close and friendly relationship with Esme and others in general. Which is what Salinger is talking about with the word "innocence". In the reading handout Threads of Innocence by Eudora Welty, the author mentions what Salinger means by innocence. She remarks, "it can penetrate a full range of relationships, follow the spirit's private adventure, inquire into grave problems gravely-- into life and death and human vulnerability and into the occasional mystical experience where age does not, after a point, any longer apply."(Welty)