Franny and Zooey

Franny and Zooey is composed of two sections. "Franny", named for Franny Glass, takes place in an unnamed college town during the weekend of "the Yale game" and tells of an undergraduate who is becoming disenchanted with the selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around her. Zooey, named for Zooey Glass, a somewhat emotionally toughened genius who at the age of twelve had "a vocabulary on an exact par with Mary Baker Eddy's." Whilst Franny, his younger sister, suffers a spiritual and existential breakdown in their parents' Manhattan living room - leaving Bessie, their mother, deeply concerned - Zooey comes to Franny's aid, offering what he thinks is brotherly love, understanding, and words of sage advice.