How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Teddy lingered for a moment at the door, reflectively experimenting with the door handle, turning it slowly left and right. "After I go out this door, I may only exist in the minds of all my acquaintances," he said. "I may be an orange peel." (2.34)
What can we make of Teddy's observation in light of his death at the end of the story? Who actually sees his death, and why does that matter? Think back to the hidden kōan Teddy introduced when contemplating the orange peels. If no one is present to witness an event, does that event really happen?
Quote #2
"What time is it?" Mrs. McArdle suddenly asked the backs of Teddy's legs. "Don't you and Booper have a swimming lesson at ten-thirty?" (2.11)
The impending swimming lesson is announced over and over again in "Teddy." Tension builds, at least on a second reading of Teddy, because we know what 10:30 really brings.
Quote #3
Then, with instantly one-pointed concentration, as if only he and the notebook existed – no sunshine, no fellow passengers, no ship – ,he began to turn the pages. (4.2)
Teddy has pursued this diary writing with single-mindedness since he spoke with Booper. Why is writing in the diary so important to him?
Quote #4
A man walks along the beach and unfortunately gets hit in the head by a cocoanut. His head unfortunately cracks open in two halves. Then his wife comes along the beach singing a song and sees the 2 halves and recognizes them and picks them up. She gets very sad of course and cries heart breakingly. That is exactly where I am tired of poetry. Supposing the lady just picks up the 2 halves and shouts into them very angrily "Stop that!" (4.8)
This is the first hint we get from Teddy that death really doesn't matter all that much, or at least to the protagonist.
Quote #5
It will either happen today or February 14, 1958 when I am sixteen. It is ridiculous to mention even. (4.20)
Do you think there have been enough hints thus far in "Teddy" that we know to what event this entry refers? Or are we left in the dark until Teddy speaks with Nicholson?
Quote #6
Teddy apparently didn't hear him, or wasn't listening. He was looking abstractedly toward, or over, the twin smokestacks up on the Sports Deck. (4.48)
This is the second time that the author makes a point of mentioning these smokestacks. Do you think there's any significance here? Or is Salinger just painting a thorough picture of the surroundings?
Quote #7
"But is it true, or isn't it, that you informed the whole Leidekker examining bunch […] when and where and how they would eventually die? […]
"No, it is not true," Teddy said with emphasis. "I told them places, and times, when they should be very, very careful. […] But I didn't say anything like that. I didn't say anything was inevitable, that way." (5.2-3)
Ah – now we start to suspect that Teddy's cryptic diary entry was in fact referring to death, and probably Teddy's own.
Quote #8
I mean I knew that even though they teach Religion and Philosophy and all, they're still pretty afraid to die." Teddy sat, or reclined, in silence for a minute. "It's so silly," he said. "All you do is get the heck out of your body when you die. My gosh, everybody's done it thousands and thousands of times. Just because they don't remember it doesn't mean they haven't done it. It's so silly." (5.7)
Teddy is not only speaking to Nicholson, but is also advising his readers as to how to react to the story's ending.