Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction Themes
Admiration
Like many of Salinger's Glass family stories, both "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour: an Introduction" are filled with intense admiration. We have admiration on the part of the au...
Language and Communication
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction is about the inherent difficulty of expressing truth in plain language. Confusion and miscommunication dominate "Roof Beam," and th...
Family
Like the many of Salinger's famous short stories, both "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour: an Introduction" are about the fictional Glass family, a set of seven intelligent, highly...
Spirituality
Like many of Salinger's short stories, both "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter" and "Seymour: an Introduction" reflect the author's interest in Eastern philosophies. Though koans, or Zen riddles,...
Love
For a word that gets so little explicit attention, love dominates the thematic undercurrent of Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction. Narrator Buddy Glass is motivated t...
Writing and Literature
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction is narrated by the fictional Buddy Glass, an English professor and professional writer. "Seymour" in particular is about the writin...
Isolation
Isolation is both literal and metaphorical in Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction. Narrator Buddy Glass is a member of the insular, peculiar, and alienating Glass fami...
Happiness
Happiness is explicitly discussed both in "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and in "Seymour: an Introduction." In the first story, Seymour Glass fails to show up at his wedding and claims that...