Re: Teddy

WILL HOCHMAN (hochman@uscolo.edu)
Fri, 02 Jan 1998 13:59:37 -0700 (MST)

Jim, I guess you are sure but in my reading, there is much more to be
gained by thinking about alternatives than being certain teddy was offed
by his overanxious sister...i see the story as the way the west must try
and balance eastern insights...what teddy provokes in me is much more than
the mystic power of one who knows his own death, but I do also see the
charm in that for others...will

On Fri, 2 Jan 1998, AntiUtopia wrote:

> 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 
>