One rainy day after choir practice, Esme, her brother Charles, and her Nanny went out for some tea. Esme is a very outgoing girl, and when she spotted a man whom she recognized that had made an appearance at her rehearsal earlier, she walked over to his table and pulled up a chair. Maybe it was because she felt a special connection to the man wearing the army uniform, or maybe it was a glimmer of her innocence shining through, she struck up a conversation. The man was a bit taken aback at her boldness, but soon he became intrigued with her. While Esme and Sergeant X were in deep discussion about her father, Charles came over to the table. Esme described the death of her father saying that he was “s-l-a-i-n.” She did not want Charles to understand what she was saying, for he was just an innocent child, and she was courteous enough to spell out the cruel word. Sergeant X was deeply touched by her thoughtfulness, and in the end, he was genuinely touched by this considerate little “adult” and the way that she strove to protect her little brother from the darker side of the world.
“Down at The Dingy” is the story of an innocent young boy and his reaction to the negative remark made about his father. At the beginning of the story, the house maid Sandra is worried about losing her job because of the racial slur she directed towards the man of the house. Unknowingly, his little boy was listening. He was too young and innocent to understand the meaning of the work “kike,” but he did have enough sense to know it was not a good thing. He did not know what to do, so he ran away to hide in the dingy, his own personal place of escape. His innocence glistened because he was so naïve about things like racism. He was clearly not ready to understand an adult society, as all children his age would not be.
The omniscient narrator lets the reader know what the little boy is thinking, and Salinger uses this devise to help the reader fully understand the innocence of a small child. The little boy was so guiltless and unaware that he thought Sandra called his father a “kite.” It is endearing that a child is so accepting and pure when he or she is young. Unfortunately, the evil world around the children steals their innocence. It is a crime to do such a thing to anyone, especially to a youngster.
Innocence is not only the most obvious theme of these two short stories, but they actually revolve around it, it is the core. Without this central idea, neither “For Esme with Love and Squalor” nor “Down at the Dingy” would even have a backbone to support it. Salinger is such a clever writer and so in touch with the feelings of young children that all of his characters are very believable and extremely realistic. It is important to understand the nature of children to write successfully about them, and Salinger did an excellent job portraying them.