"The Forest" by Jerome Salinger, summary

The novella "The Forest" was written by Jerome Salinger in 1947. It is a drama about the tragic death of poetic talent under the pressure of everyday vulgarity and falsehood.

Shoreview Celebration and Raymond’s Escape

On December 31, 1917, in Shoreview, Long Island, eleven-year-old Corinne von Nordhoffen is preparing a party. Corinne is the daughter of an American hospital heiress and a Germanized baron. In her diary, the girl confesses her love for her poor classmate, Raymond Ford, and prepares a real cowboy hat for him.

At the table, classmate Lawrence Phelps mocks Raymond, recalling the scars on his back and his fright from a thrown ball. Corinne defends the boy. When Raymond fails to show up, his father’s secretary, Mr. Miller, drives the birthday girl to the Lobster Palace restaurant, where Ford’s mother works as a waitress.

They find a commotion outside the establishment. Raymond’s mother, fired from the restaurant, slams her fists on the window and shouts obscenities. Mr. Miller offers her and her son a ride to the train station. In the car, Mrs. Ford is rude, boasts about her past, and threatens to beat her son. Little Raymond quietly apologizes to Corinne for missing the party. At the station, the boy collapses in the snow under the weight of his suitcases and disappears along with his mother.

Corinne’s youth and the discovery of the poet

At sixteen, Corinne loses her father, graduates from Wellesley College, and moves to Europe. Over the course of three years, she buys nine cars and grieves the death of a close friend from Detroit who was thrown from a speeding car.

Returning to New York, Corinne found a job at a magazine. Thanks to her discipline and intelligence, she became a successful editor and theater reviewer. For her thirtieth birthday, her colleague Robert Weiner gave her a collection of poems, "Timid Morning."

After reading the book that night, Corinne is struck by the lines about a mighty, overturned forest, its crowns buried deep underground. The collection is listed as authored by Ray Ford. She realizes she’s reading the works of a school friend. Corinne calls Columbia University, where Ford teaches literature, and arranges a meeting.

The Raymond Ford Story

On January 9, 1937, they dined at a Chinese restaurant. Ford explains that after leaving Shoreview, he dropped out of school and worked as a bookmaker at the Florida dog racing circuit.

There, nineteen-year-old Raymond met an elderly widow, Mrs. Rizzio. In gratitude for saving her money, the woman began passing him sheets of paper every evening containing poems by Whitman, Yeats, Keats, Coleridge, and Shelley, printed in green ink.

Poetry transformed the young man. He spent eighteen hours a day in Mrs. Rizzio’s library until his eyesight deteriorated from the strain. Ford later graduated from high school and university, and published collections of poetry, "Timid Morning" and "The Man on the Carousel."

Marriage and the appearance of the petitioner

On April 20, 1937, Corinne and Raymond married in the university chapel. After a short trip to Canada, the newlyweds settled into Corinne’s Manhattan apartment.

Soon, Corinne receives a letter from Mary Gates Croft, calling herself Bunny. She writes that she is twenty years old, studying in Vermont, and dreams of showing her poems to a poet. Touched by the letter, Corinne invites Bunny to tea.

Ford greets his guest coldly. After reading the manuscripts, he abruptly declares, "A poet doesn’t have to invent poems; they reveal themselves to him. The sacred river Alf was discovered, not invented. I can’t stand it when people invent things." Despite the harsh verdict, Bunny isn’t offended and tells stories about her home in Vermont, Aunt Cornelia, and the servants.

Destruction of the marriage union

Corinne shows sympathy and invites Bunny to the theater and dinners. Soon, Ford’s behavior undergoes a frightening change.

The poet began disappearing at night, drinking alcohol, and skipping lectures. On May 11, 1937, he went for a walk with Bunny, and that night he was plagued by nightmares and cried in his sleep.

On May 14, Ford calls Corinne from the train station and announces he’s leaving New York with Bunny. A sudden blow knocks Corinne unconscious right there in the newsroom. At home, she discovers that her husband has taken their belongings and rearranged the furniture in the office, erasing all traces of their life together.

Howie Croft Revealed

On May 23, 1937, a burly man in a sports jacket — Howie Croft — arrives at Corinne’s apartment. He presents a humorous business card and announces that he is Bunny’s legal husband.

Howie reveals the truth: Bunny is thirty-three, they’ve been married for almost eleven years, and they’re raising a son with a broken leg in Vermont. There’s no such thing as a rich Aunt Cornelia or old servants: Bunny made it all up. She wrote twelve rejected books and decided to lure Ford after seeing his profile in the newspaper.

Having learned from Corinne that poetry does not bring wealth, Howie leaves, leaving the owner of the apartment in deep despair.

Search and Encounter in the Midwest

Corinne tries to find her husband. It’s only a year and a half later that her colleague Robert Weiner discovers the fugitives’ address in a small Midwestern town.

In November, Corinne arrives there by train in a sleet. After seventeen hours in her hotel room, she calls the number and hears Bunny’s voice, cloyingly inviting her over.

Corinne arrives at a shabby rented house. Bunny greets her in jeans and a men’s shirt, acting casually. In the tiny room, Raymond sits at a bridge table.

Ford appears to be a complete wreck: he goes around without glasses, drinks neat whiskey, does pointless eye exercises and reads cheap film magazines.

Denouement

Raymond confesses to Corinne that Bunny is forbidding him from writing his previous poetry and forcing him to write mundane prose for money. Bunny herself openly mocks his work and threatens to make him sleep in the medicine cabinet.

Ford whispers to Corinne that he has suffered another psychological breakdown — a return to the state of childhood helplessness he experienced during his years with an abusive mother.

Corinne cries and begs her husband to return to New York, but Raymond refuses, declaring he can’t leave. Realizing that her beloved has finally perished as a person and as a Creator, Corinne runs out of the apartment and races through the slushy street.