Teddy (story)
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Teddy is the last story in J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories. The main character is Teddy McArdle, a ten-year-old child genius (Zen master perhaps?), who is returning home from Europe with his father, mother, and little sister. The story centers around Teddy's conversations with a young grad student, Nicholson, on board the ship about religion and philosophy. The story is about the nature of existence and how cause and effect can lead to (sometimes) surprising conclusions. They discuss all kinds of things that surprise Nicholson at the extent of Teddy's knowledge. Just before parting, Teddy discusses the fragile nature of life, ending with a theoretical way he could die within the next few minutes. By the shrill scream that Nicholson hears, it is believed that Teddy has died in the way that he has just forcasted.
In Seymour -- An Introduction, a meditation written by the fictional character, Buddy Glass, on his brother Seymour, Buddy claims authorship of this story, as well as others contained in the anthology Nine Stories.
