Phony and Nice Worlds in Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut :: Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut Essays

Phony and Nice Worlds in Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut Salinger expresses his view of the world through his use of bogus and nice worlds. Salinger uses the simulated and nice worlds to express his pessimistic view of the world. Although phony and nice worlds exist in many of Salingers stories, Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut is perhaps the take up invention to illustrate the difference between phony and nice worlds. Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut is champion of the few stories which offers views of both phony and nice worlds in comparatively few pages. The action of Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut takes place in the living room of the protagonist, Eloise. Eloise is reminiscing about her past with her friend Mary Jane. Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut is divided into three scenes. In the first scene, we see Eloise as she is in the second, we learn what she has been in the past in the third, we witness her sudden designation of what has happened to her. The contrasting worlds are epitomized in th e title of the story. Uncle Wiggly is a reference to childrens stories about a whimsical rabbit. Connecticut is the chosen gathering place of the phony Madison Avenue exurbanites (French 22). The protagonist of Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut, Eloise, has experienced both the phony and the nice worlds. The phony world is the world into which we have the best view because Eloise is essentially living in a phony world. Eloise is stranded in a loveless marriage and uses alcohol to drink away her sorrows. Eloises husband, Lew, is one of the Madison Avenue exurbanites and is a stark contrast to Eloises first husband. Eloise is very critical of Lew and everything that he does. The phoniness of Connecticut has transformed Eloise from the nice womanhood she was to the cruel, pessimistic woman she is now. Eloise realizes how far she has fallen near the end of the story. Eloise has scolded her daughter and chastised the maid when she reaches her epiphany. Eloise asks her friend I was a nice girl , wasnt I (Nine Stories 38). The nice world is now exclusively a distant memory to Eloise. Eloise reflects happily about her time with her first husband, Walt. Walt was a GI, one of the Glass twins, and far from the egotistical Madison Avenue man of affairs (French 22). Eloise remarks that Walt was the only man who could make her laugh.