Text Studied: Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger (Pg. 39)

Text: She was wearing her usual at-home vesture... It consisted mostly of a hoary midnight-blue Japanese kimono. Se almost invariably wore it through the apartment during the day. With its many occultish-looking folds, it also served s the repository for the paraphernalia of a very heavy cigarette smoker and an amateur handyman; two oversized pockets had been added at the hips, and they usually contained two or three packs of cigarettes, several math folders, a screwdriver, a claw-end hammer, a Boy Scout Knife that had once belonged to one of her sons, and an enamel faucet handle or two, plus an assortment of screws, nails, hinges, and ball-bearing casters - all of which tended to make Mrs. Glass chink faintly as she moved about in her large apartment.

1. What does the detail in the passage reveal about Mrs. Glass's character? In other words, how does the detail give you a picture of her looks and insight into her character?

The specificity of the clothing description of Mrs. Glass's character reveals how she seems to be uncaring about her own appearance, of which we can consequently deduce that she is very self-confident. Specifically, the fact that she has added "oversized pockets" to her clothing in an invariable manner portray her as seeing clothes as a purely functional item and not a fashionable accessory. As mentioned before, this characterises her as being independent and self-secure.

2. How would the meaning of the fourth sentence (With its many ...) be different without the detail that follows the semicolon?

I believe the section after the semicolon is crucial to the description of Mrs. Glass due to the fact that it is here where she is described as having customised her clothing; thereby allowing her to carry all of her handyman paraphernalia.