Re: Teddy and Booper
William Hochman (wh14@is9.nyu.edu)
Sat, 18 Sep 1999 09:13:35 -0400 (EDT)
I thought it was just another of Alexander's voluminous mistakes, but he
retells the story as though it's clear Teddy kills booper. I take this
reading as "wrong" becuase it's I think the ending is too ambiguous to
make a certain interpretation (kids shriek for no reason at all...) and if
I were going to see someone dying in an unfilled pool, it would have been
teddy who seemed to know and accept death, not be a viscous kid
murderer...Alexander has really done a poor job. I think he took easy
critical paths and as a result came out seeing the author as having spent
his talent and lusting over young girls...I believe Salinger was a master
in understanding ambiguity and appreciated his sublties too much to be so
blunt as Alexander. Sorry, I'm still on my first pencil-less reading and
had to vent.
will