This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise

From Bananafish

This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise Status underpublished Original publication source Esquire Original publication date October, 1945 Salinger.org rating 3.2 Previous Next Elaine The Stranger

Original art from Esquire

Vincent Caulfield narrates this story which is like a stateside version of A Boy in France. He's upset about the news that his brother, Holden, is missing in action.

Missing, missing, missing. Lies! I'm being lied to. He's never been missing before. He's one of the least missing boys in the world. He's here in this truck; he's home in New York; he's at Pentey Preparatory School ("You send us the Boy. We'll mold the man-- All modern fireproof buildings..."); yes, he's at Pentey, he never left school; and he's at Cape Cod, sitting on the porch, biting his fingernails; and he's playing doubles with me, yelling at me to stay back at the baseline when he's at the net.

Contents 1 Deck 2 Recurring characters 3 Trivia 4 Sources

Deck

In the Army truck in the Georgia rain he couldn't forget his brother who was missing

Recurring characters

Appearing:

• Vincent Caulfield

Mentioned:

• Holden Caulfield

Vincent claims here that Holden is missing in action in the pacific. However, Holden, who was 16 in 1949 in The Catcher in the Rye, would have been too young to have fought in WWII.

• Phoebe Caulfield

Trivia

• Although "the kid from Valentine Avenue" insists he's from Manhattan near the Bronx, Valentine Avenue is most certainly well into the Bronx

Sources

• (October 1945) This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise. Esquire XXIV: 54-56, 147-149.

• Reprinted in:
  • The Armchair Esquire ed. by Arnold Gingrich and L. Rust Hills (New York: Putnam's, 1958), pp. 187-197