The Ending of Teddy

The ending of “Teddy” is what makes the story so interesting. Salinger intentionally leaves the story open-ended and up to the reader’s interpretation. When I read the story, I thought that Teddy had been pushed into the empty pool by his sister and, as a result, died.
Looking back at the story, there were several instances where Teddy seems to allude to his death. The first is when he is talking to his parents. Right before he leaves their room, he says “After I go out this door, I may only exist in the minds of all my acquaintances.” It’s possible that Teddy’s telling his parents that they’ll never see him again after he leaves. Since he only has “a very strong affinity” for his parents, it could make sense that he calls them “acquaintances.”
He also writes in his notebook, "It will either happen today or February 14, 1958 when I am sixteen. It is ridiculous to mention even.”  He doesn't explicitly say that he's talking about his death, and at first, it seems unlikely as he calls the event ridiculous. But, we also know that Teddy doesn’t take death as seriously as most people do. While talking to Nicholson, he says “All you do is get the heck out of your body when you die ... It's so silly.” So, it makes sense that Teddy would think mentioning his death is ridiculous.
Teddy also seems to predict his own death in the same conversation. He says that his sister could accidentally push him into an empty pool, causing him to fracture his skull and die. It could just be a story he makes up, but he has no reason to do so. Additionally, when he’s talking about the professors he met, he says he could have told them when they were going to die. The only reason he didn’t is because they didn’t actually want to know. With this story, he could be actually predicting his death.
There’s also a possibility that this last scene could actually be about Booper’s death. After all, Nicholson hears “an all-piercing, sustained scream--clearly coming from a small, female child.”  It seems unlikely though, that Booper would die in the exact same way that Teddy predicted his own death.
It could also be that neither of these are true. It could just be that the scream wasn’t due to shock, but just out of surprise or happiness. Since Booper’s only six, she could be screaming for fun as she’s playing in the water. It could also just be another one of the kids in the pool at the time screaming. They’re supposed to be having a swim lesson, so it could just be that some kid got scared. As some people pointed out in class, it doesn’t make sense for the pool to be empty as there is a swim lesson schedules for that day.
Salinger clearly leaves the ending of this story open for his readers to interpret. For me, the most likely scenario is that Teddy dies in the way he predicted.

Comments

  1. Dale RobbennoltMarch 11, 2018 at 10:29 AM

    I agree that this seems like the most likely explanation. Teddy tells Nicholson earlier in their conversation that he had told the professors when they should be careful but not when they would actually die. This idea would fit with a desire to tell Nicholson that he was going to die today but to tell him indirectly so that he didn't freak out or try to stop him. Teddy's nonchalance about death fits with the way that he constantly mentions things about it but never seems to worry or want to tell anyone directly, because he doesn't think it matters and doesn't want them to worry. Whether or not this is actually what happens, it is likely that this is what Nicholson is thinking as he rusher towards the pool. Having just heard this prediction and then following Teddy to the pool it is likely that when he hears the scream he is imagining that Teddy has just died in the empty pool.

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  2. yichenMarch 11, 2018 at 8:27 PM

    I personally thought he died the way that he predicted. But for me, the ending didn't really matter because Teddy continuously talks about how it's okay to die, and that everyone makes too big of a fuss about it. I took this to mean that if Teddy died, we shouldn't feel sad because he'll hopefully be in a better non-american reincarnation, and if Booper died, she might not be evil in her next reincarnation. And if they're just playing in the pool, good for them!

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  3. Ethan English BlogMarch 15, 2018 at 9:28 AM

    I never thought that Booper's scream could be out of excitement. To me, that would be the most realistic but in terms of the story I'm sure that Teddy died.

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  4. ZachMarch 15, 2018 at 12:15 PM

    I also interpreted the ending to mean Teddy died because the pieces seem to line up too well for it to be anything else. However, I wouldn't put it past Salinger to "fake" Teddy's death to the reader with the line about Booper's scream to throw us off. Teddy himself says that, whatever "it" is, will happen either "today or on February 14, 1958", so if we assume that the event he's talking about is his death than it's entirely possible Booper's scream was a playful one. Very thought provoking!

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