Teddy

Fueled by his own search for spiritual enlightenment, Salinger writes Teddy as someone with the same goal. Through “Teddy,” Salinger argues one must let go of logic and materialism to reach this enlightenment. When Teddy and Bob Nicholson discuss the Leidekker Examining Group’s study of the former, Teddy claims one must employ different perspectives to learn and grow. Among these perspectives is that of Christianity—specifically, a reference to the biblical Adam and Eve, their consumption of forbidden fruit, and their exile from the Garden of Eden for gaining logic from the fruit. Thus, in order to “get out of the finite dimension” (138) of reality, the first thing one must let go of is logic as humans understand it. Teddy and Nicholson’s conversation mirrors Salinger’s own investigation of different religions and philosophies, all to build an argument against singular logic: In addition to Christianity, he explores Buddhism and Vedantic Reincarnation through Teddy’s talk of past lives.

Salinger also paints material goods as sources of tension. In the opening scene, Teddy stands on his father’s expensive Gladstone suitcase with disregard for its price. From this perspective, one could argue it is Mr. McArdle’s concern for the Leica camera, lent to Booper, that leads to Teddy’s fate. In opposition to his father’s concern for material goods, Teddy has “no money” for a haircut (124) and wears disheveled clothes. In contrast to his past life as an Indian man, he finds his current incarnation as an American man counterintuitive to meditation and philosophy. He understands that “everything [is] god” (137), and yet, even with this understanding, he still has spiritual work to do. If one reads Teddy’s goal as ending his reincarnation and the short story’s ending as him dying, death is perhaps welcome as the next step in enlightenment.