The social concerns in Franny and Zooey might be posed in the form of a question that the novel asks, but never quite answers—can long-held ideals of family and religion survive in a cynical mid-twentieth-century America? These concerns represent J.D. Salinger's own, as revealed through his multiple works of highly successful short fiction. Because many of those works center on members of the Glass family and their relationships to one another, the viability of family receives much attention. Within the consideration of family and its usefulness to its individual members, Salinger also emphasizes issues of spirituality. The basic questioning of family and religion leads to an interrogation of how humans choose to react to life's conflicts.

Through examples presented by his characters, Salinger offers two basic choices.

Through Seymour, the elder Glass brother, Salinger reflects on suicide as a viable choice for those...