Re: Teddy
AntiUtopia (AntiUtopia@aol.com)
Fri, 02 Jan 1998 15:34:23 -0500 (EST)
In a message dated 98-01-02 12:32:49 EST, you write:
<< There may be more abiguity to the end--are you sure it was teddy who died?
Are you sure anyone died? will
>>
The final paragraph relates a high pitched scream (as if something terrible
happened), coming from a little girl (perhaps Teddy's sister?), reverberating
off four tiled walls (like in an empty pool on board a ship), and this scream
was heard in a staircase with the following sign on the door: "TO THE POOL."
Now, given the presentation of Teddy's character in the story (precocious
child capable of astral projection), and given Teddy's speculations about him
being pushed into an empty pool by his sister, and given his journal entry
that "today was the day," and given his monologue on death and its
meaninglessness--given all this, I'd say if what happened to Teddy is still
ambiguous I think we're asking Salinger to walk thru his story hitting us over
the heads with much Bigger sticks than is nornally used by one with his
gifts...
:)
Bottom line is that this explanation has the fewest holes of any others, and
is most consistent with the facts of the story....
Jim