The Ending of "Teddy"

[Frank Marcopolos]

Hi, I'm new here, so I thought I'd start with a question:

What is your opinion of what happens at the end of "Teddy"? As I
understand it, there are basically 3 credible ways to see it:

1. Teddy commits suicide by jumping in the empty pool to teach Booper
an existential lesson.

2. Booper pushes Teddy in the empty pool, where he cracks his head
open and dies, as predicted.

3. Teddy pushes Booper in the full pool, to show that Teddy does have
human emotion after all, and he gets angry at his snotty sister, and
pushes her in.

My opinion is #2. I recently posted an essay on my blog about this, so
I won't go into all my reasoning here, but I'd love to know what the
opinions are of the members of this community, as "hard-core" Salinger
fans.

Cheers,

Frank

[James Rovira]

I've always taken it to be #2 myself.

Jim R

[Chris Kubica]

Me also, as that is the sound of one head clapping.

-- 

Chris Kubica

[Beth Kienle-Granzo]

Hi All,

I'm also new here, but I've been reading the emails for quite a while, without participating.  I must say, although I'm saddened by his death, it certainly inspired much more conversation around here, which I have enjoyed.  I thank you all for sharing all your recent thoughts and links.  You are also inspiring me to pick up the books to reread them (again).  Anyways, to answer your question: I've always read it as #2 myself.  But I will reread, and let you know if i change my interpretation. 

Cheers,

Beth

On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 8:37 PM, Frank Marcopolos <frankma...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Alegra Harris]

definitely #2.

[Frank Marcopolos]

That's interesting. I always took Salinger's joke about this (the Zen
koan at the beginning of 9 Stories) to be when he has Teddy clap his
ear with his hand to get the water out, but your interpretation works,
too.