Franny and Zooey Spirituality Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Story.Section.Paragraph)

Quote #1

She was wearing a sheared-raccoon coat, and Lane, walking toward her quickly but with a slow face, reasoned to himself, with suppressed excitement, that he was the only one on the platform who really knew Franny's coat. He remembered that once, in a borrowed car, after kissing Franny for a half hour or so, he had kissed her coat lapel, as though it were a perfectly desirable, organic extension of the person herself. (Franny.1.9)

This passage reveals Lane's materialism; he confuses Franny with her coat because he so highly values material things.

Quote #2

He didn't get an answer. Franny was staring at the little blotch of sunshine with a special intensity, as if she were considering lying down in it. (Franny.2.29)

This line draws our attention to the setting of "Franny," the inside of a restaurant. Franny is drawn to something natural, as opposed to the artificiality and materialism of the fancy restaurant Lane picked. For more on this, check out our discussion of "Setting."

Quote #3

"The little book in my bag?" Franny said. She watched him disjoint a pair of frogs' legs. Then she took a cigarette from the pack on the table and lit it herself. "Oh, I don't know," she said. "It's something called 'The Way of a Pilgrim.' " She watched Lane eat for a moment. "I got it out of the library. This man that teaches this Religion Survey thing I'm taking this term mentioned it." She dragged on her cigarette. "I've had it out for weeks. I keep forgetting to return it." (Franny.4.5)

Franny hides from Lane the importance of the book to her and even where she got it (Zooey later reveals that she got it from Seymour and Buddy's room). She's not comfortable sharing with him something that is very important to her.