Death and what follows it has been prominent in the Salinger stories we read, mainly in "Teddy" and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Many times in literature and in life, death is sad, or perceived as an end to something. Contrarily, in Salinger's story "Teddy," it is treated much more softly, almost with indifference, if not some kind of serene acceptance. This may seem odd without the spiritual context of the story, for many people have different religious backgrounds which influence their life, and, in the case of authors, their work. What is so interesting about this work is the Zen Buddhist and Hindu influence, instead of Judeo-Christian influence, or agnostic or atheist influence, which would be more typical in American authors up to this point. Through this influence, death is nothing to fear, as people are reborn after death, or achieve Enlightenment. Teddy speaks a little about this in the story. He says the professors "are still pretty afraid to die...It's so silly...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" (193). In this way, death is nothing to fear, as people have done it many times, and leads to another life.
This is what Teddy means when he says people "wake up"--they die to be reborn into another person. Though, some vestige of their former life remains, as Teddy says, "I wouldn't have had to get incarnated into an American body if I hadn't met that lady" (188). He says itis difficult to lead a spiritual life in America, and many people find it silly. This suggests some sort of discipline after his relationship with the woman, which caused him to stop meditating. Other than this, there seem to be no bad aspects to death in the story, except the pain it causes those close to the deceased.
In this way, death is not scary. This helps alleviate the story's jarring ending, with Booper presumably pushing Teddy into the empty pool, and softens Seymour's suicide. I wonder if Salinger ever thought of these characters' next lives, or even wrote anything about it. It would be interesting to find out. Some people may not have liked the philosophical and religious aspect of "Teddy," but I did, because it was so different from other works I have read. This makes for a very compelling story, even if a 10-year-old dies at the end--we know that he is somewhere else, either in Enlightenment, or in another body.
I do think that Teddy's theory of Enlightenment when it comes to death helps put a lighter spin on the whole "10 year dying" ending. It also, as you said, helps us Seymour's suicide possibly a little better. With Seymour, it's hard not to focus on the death aspect, but if one can see past it, they can realize that Seymour, after the war, was not meant for this world. He used suicide as his outlet to escape. He looks at his wife, who is asleep on the bed, and then proceeds to shoot himself. After this, his wife will wake up and see her dead husband, who has gone to sleep to wake up in a new and accepting world.
ReplyDeleteBut, again, these are all theories. I believe that Salinger left the ending purposely ambiguous so that the reader takes the time to try and figure everything out for themself.
I also noticed that death was quite a common twist in the Salinger stories we read. In the cases of "A Perfect Day For Bananafish" and "Teddy," the characters do seem to take a more peaceful and spiritual approach to death. The two are also in control of when their life will end, which takes away some of the anxiety many of us feel with not knowing. Of course, there are differences between committing suicide and being a psychic genius child. However, it leads me to wonder if these people really are more enlightened, or if there is something mentally wrong with them that causes them to think to way. I guess many people would be quick to say that suicidal thoughts are psychologically problematic, and I wouldn't disagree, but I think what Salinger is trying to get at is whether or not having this peace of mind makes it okay. If they seem to have thought it through, it should be okay, right? Personally I don't really know where to stand on this issue, but hey it makes for some good stories.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the "death is not scary" portrayal of death in Salinger's story "Teddy" is for us to rethink our thoughts towards Seymour's death at the end of "A Perfect for Bananafish." After all, I think it's important to note the positioning of "Teddy" in the Nine Stories collection of short stories, and how, perhaps, it's purposefully the end of the book, to parallel the beginning, "opening" story Salinger gives us. Perhaps, after reading "Nine Stories," we're supposed to have a different perspective and reaction to death of characters, and "Teddy" is Salinger's way of saying "this is the end."
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Salinger's collection is bookended with these two stories—both discussing death, quite plainly, in some fashion—is particularly interesting to me. Both characters have been "examined" in some fashion: Seymour by psychiatrists (?) after the war, as Muriel and her mother allude to, and Teddy by all kinds of professors and interviewers, apparently from all over the globe. Seymour turns to suicide and Teddy's death is... not quite that. The two stories and even the characters are easily compared and contrasted even beyond that; for example, Seymour seems to feel more comfortable around younger people/children (and I'm not viewing this as predatory in this case, but I know some people have that opinion), while Teddy says that children have more spiritual potential because they have not yet attained an adult level of logic.
ReplyDeleteI also remember someone's comment in class about how it's almost as if "Seymour felt like he was already dead," which is thrown into sharp relief by Teddy's revelations in the last story. Maybe Seymour's feeling that way was psychological, but in a way, Teddy was aware of the same thing in a different sense, wasn't he? It makes for a peculiar comparison, and like Pauline said, makes for some good stories—and discussions.