The bananafish are the story’s most important and complex symbol. In part, they represent innocence; by retreating into a hole and eating bananas, they are creatures that apparently lead lives removed from the world’s harsh realities. However, they are also (in Seymour’s words) “tragic,” as they gorge themselves until they are literally too big to exit their holes—an image that evokes Seymour’s isolation from those around him and retreat into his own mind. In their mingling of naivety and tragedy, the bananafish foreshadow Seymour’s fate, suggesting that sensitivity such as his inevitably leads to self-destruction: Seymour has developed “banana fever” (a euphemism for PTSD), and it’s only a matter of time before he perishes.

In their overconsumption, the bananafish also represent the materialism of postwar America. Here, too, the emphasis is on alienation, as the story suggests that the superficiality of American culture inhibits The Search for Meaning and Connection. This makes the way the bananafish mediate Sybil and Seymour’s relationship at once ironic and fitting. Initially, the discussion of the fish draws the two closer, the whimsical dialogue highlighting their shared propensity for childish wonder. When Sybil remarks that she sees a bananafish, thus proving her ability to engage imaginatively with Seymour, he kisses her foot, apparently touched by the bond they have formed.