"[2] According to biographer Kenneth Slawenski, the story is "widely considered one of the finest literary pieces to result from the Second World War.

The reader learns that her name is Esmé, and that she and her brother Charles are orphans – their mother dead, the father killed in North Africa while serving with the British Army.

In the next episode, the scene changes to a military setting, and there is a deliberate shift in the point of view; the narrator no longer refers to himself as "I", but as "Sergeant X".

"Corporal Z" (surname Clay), a fellow soldier who has served closely with him, casually and callously remarks upon the sergeant's physical deterioration.

When Clay departs, Sergeant X begins to rifle through a batch of unopened letters and discovers a small package, postmarked from Devon almost a year before.

It contains a letter from Esmé and Charles, and she has enclosed her father's wristwatch – "a talisman" – and suggests to Sergeant X that he "wear it for the duration of the war".

[3] "For Esmé—with Love and Squalor" was conceived as a tribute to those Second World War veterans who in post-war civilian life were still suffering from so-called "battle fatigue" – post-traumatic stress disorder.

[8] In 1954, the BBC attempted to purchase the rights to turn "For Esmé" into a radio drama series, but Salinger declined.

[9] Since its original publication, "For Esmé" has been translated into many languages, including German,[11] Swedish,[12] Japanese,[13] Spanish,[14] and Polish.

[15] Belle and Sebastian's track "I Fought in a War" on their album Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant is inspired by the atmosphere in the story.