first part, he describes his meeting with a young girl in Devon. The second part, which is told in the third person, is about the crisis experienced by the hero during the war days. In this section, his name is referred to as Staff Sergeant X. Esmé: She is a thirteen-year-old girl whom Sergeant X met the day before he joined the war. In the second part of the story, Esmé sends him a letter while Sergeant X is at war. At the beginning of the story, it is explained to the readers that Esmé will marry and also invited the Sergeant X to the wedding ceremony. Charles: Esmé's five-year-old brother. He is with Esmé on the day he meets the Chief Sergeant. Corporal Z (Clay): He is the roommate of Staff Sergeant X in the European days after landing. Clay, an emotional, simple and rude man, is thought to be the symbol of the deprivation part of the story. Loretta: Clay's fiancée. She often writes letters to Clay in the war. Ms. Megley: Ms. Megley, the caregivers of Esmé and Charles, is the person who brought the children to the teahouse on the day they met Staff Sergeant X. Staff Sergeant X's wife: At the beginning of the story, the narrator (Staff Sergeant X) remembers the name. X explains that they decided not to go to Esmé's wedding after talking to his wife. Grencher: Sergeant X's Mother-in-law. The name is mentioned at the beginning of the story. Sergeant X's older brother: In the second part of the story, he reads a thoughtlessly written letter from his older brother X. Publication history "For Esmé" was originally published in The New Yorker in April 1950. In April 1953, Little, Brown and Company (a Boston-based publishing company) published "For Esmé" as part of the anthology Nine Stories. The same anthology was published in 1953 in London by Hamish Hamilton under the title For Esmé—with Love and Squalor: and other stories. In 1954, the BBC attempted to purchase the rights to turn "For Esmé" into a radio drama series, but Salinger declined. In 1959, Harborough Publishing (London) issued a paperback edition of "For Esme" that featured Esme as a "dishy blonde" on the cover. Salinger disapproved of this edition so emphatically that he never spoke to his UK publisher again. Since its original publication, "For Esmé" has been translated into many languages, including