The Glass family is a fictional family appearing in several of J. D. Salinger's short fictions. All but one of the Glass family stories were first published in The New Yorker. They appear in the short story collections Nine Stories, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction and Franny and Zooey.
Members
The Glass family, from eldest to youngest:
- Les and Bessie Glass (née Gallagher): Retired vaudeville performers. Les is Australian (mentioned in "Hapworth 16, 1924") and Jewish, and is in the entertainment business. He is not mentioned often in the stories, but is criticized by Seymour in "Hapworth 16, 1924." Bessie, the matriarch, is Irish, and is characterized as consistently worried about the fact that her children are talented and yet largely unable to assimilate into society. They are the parents of the seven children:
- Seymour Glass (February 1917 – March 19, 1948): The eldest, Seymour is featured in Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction and Franny and Zooey. He is the author of the letter that comprises "Hapworth 16, 1924" and is the main character in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Seymour was a spiritual savant and brilliant intellectual, and became a professor at Columbia at 20. Along with his siblings he was a regular star on the radio program It's a Wise Child. He fought in the European Theatre of World War II, and was deeply scarred by the experience. In 1941 he attempts suicide by slitting his wrists, but fails, as described in Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction. He elopes with Muriel Fedder on June 4, 1942.
- Zachary Martin "Zooey" Glass (born 1929 Seymour was known as Billy Black, and Walt was Georgie Black.