TEDDY AT THE POOL:
"In another well-known story in the collection called “Teddy,” a jealous sister pushes a child prodigy into an empty swimming pool. Here the little genius has anticipated and even welcomes his own death.
--Maxwell Geismar, “The Wise Child and the New Yorker School of Fiction”
Salinger depends on our understanding of Teddy’s attitude to make us understand that it is Teddy who dies.
--Arthur Mizener, “The Love Song of J.D. Salinger”
Teddy [is] the story of a strange boy who believes in Vedantic incarnation and detachment, and who vaguely foresees his death.
--Ihab Hassan, “J.D. Salinger: Rare Quixotic Gesture”
He foresees his own death, which he regards not with Western logic as the end of his life but rather as the final fulfillment and reunion with life. The story ends with that fulfillment, precisely the way that Teddy foresaw it.
--Dan Wakefield, “J.D. Salinger and the Search for Love”
Etc., etc. etc."
My take on what happens at the end of Salinger's "Teddy." I disagree with everyone above.
