2571: A Perfect Day For Lasagnafish
| A Perfect Day For Lasagnafish |
 Made by: Kendria Perry |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
The original version of the strip involves both Garfield and Jon going out for a walk in the woods. There. Jon admires the scenery for a bit, then decides to scream, because he and Garfield are (as Garfield correctly guessed) lost. This edit, however, uses several copes of the panels with new dialogue for Jon (and Garfield and his dialogue cropped out of every instance of the third panel) to make it look like he's saying the opening lines of The Catcher in the Rye.
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J.D. Salinger that follows the exploits of angsty upper-class teenager Holden Caulfield as he wanders the streets of New York City alone after being expelled from boarding school. The book is considered a classic for its themes of class and self reflection, but was also slightly controversial back then for its nihilistic tone and use of coarse language (which wasn't considered normal for literature at the time), as well as the book being found in the possession of criminals suck as Mark David Chapman, the man who assassinated Beatles member John Lennon in 1980. Jon's attire in the original strip includes a red hunting cap similar to what Holden Caulfield is described as wearing in the book, and according to the author's notes, that's what inspired the edit.
As for the title, it doesn't reference The Catcher in the Rye in any way, but it does reference another written work by J.D. Salinger: a short story called A Perfect Day for Bananafish, which focuses on a man named Seymour Glass (of the Glass Family, a recurring set of characters in Salinger's short stories) who interacts with a little girl at a hotel pool.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
I came across the original strip entirely by accident, and I couldn't help but notice how similar Jon looked to Holden Caulfield, protagonist of the classic American novel The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger. And seeing as I'm a pretty big fan of TCITR, this strip basically wrote itself.
Also, the title isn't a Catcher reference; it's a reference to Salinger's short story A Perfect Day For Bananafish, which is easily one of the best short stories of all time, and if you haven't read it already go ahead and read it right now. You'll thank me later.
Original strip: 2008-04-03.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Jon {walking, alongside Garfield}: If you really want to hear about it....
Jon: The first thing you'll probably want to know...
Jon {standing whilst holding out his hand}: Is where I was born,
Jon: And what my lousy childhood was like,
Jon: And how my parents were occupied and all
Jon: Before they had me,
Jon {resumes walking}: And all that David Copperfield kind of crap,
Jon {turning towards Garfield (who is out-of-frame), and frowning}: But I don't feel like going
Jon: Into it,
Jon: If you want to know the truth.
