Soft-Boiled Sergeant

"Soft-Boiled Sergeant" is a short story by J. D. Salinger published in the 1944 edition of The Saturday Evening Post.^[1]

Plot

"Soft-Boiled Sergeant" chronicles a young soldier's entry into the military. The title refers to the good-natured Staff Sergeant, Burke, whom the young soldier meets. Burke helps him to go through difficulties with other people and helps him overcome some of his nervousness among the other soldiers and the environment.

History

The piece was originally titled "Death of a Dogface" and the magazines' decision to change the title, as well as use a "cute" illustration to accompany the piece, made Salinger deeply resentful.^[2]

References

↑ Levine, Paul (October 1958). "The Development of the Misfit Hero". Twentieth Century Literature. IV: 92–99.
↑ Alexander, Paul (14 July 2000). Salinger: A Biography. New York: Renaissance Books. ISBN 978-1580631488.

J. D. Salinger

Novel	The Catcher in the Rye

Short story collections	Nine Stories Franny and Zooey Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction Three Early Stories

Short stories	"Blue Melody" "Both Parties Concerned" "A Boy in France" "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" "Down at the Dinghy" "Elaine" "For Esmé—with Love and Squalor" "A Girl I Knew" "Go See Eddie" "The Hang of It" "Hapworth 16, 1924" "The Heart of a Broken Story" "I'm Crazy" "The Inverted Forest" "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" "Last Day of the Last Furlough" "The Laughing Man" "The Long Debut of Lois Taggett" "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" "Once a Week Won't Kill You" "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" "Personal Notes of an Infantryman" "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" "Slight Rebellion off Madison" "Soft-Boiled Sergeant" "The Stranger" "Teddy" "This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise" "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" "The Varioni Brothers" "The Young Folks" "A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All" "The Last and Best of the Peter Pans"

Related	Holden Caulfield Salinger (2013) (companion biography) Rebel in the Rye (TBA)

Book Category

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