Materialism in "Teddy"

As we read through J.D Salinger's “Teddy” we see the materialism in the adults that we have seen in other stories by J.D Salinger. In my previous blog post, I noted the differences between adults and children in various other narratives in the Nine Stories. I will continue this comparison in this blog post. The essence of materialism is evident in the very first sentence of “Teddy”. “I'LL EXQUISITE DAY you, buddy, if you don't get down off that bag this minute.” Mr. McArdle who is Teddy's father demands that he gets off of his bag. Teddy is using the bag to be able to reach the porthole and look out on to the ocean. Mr. Mcardle doesn't care about what Teddy has to say or what he has been but rather just that Teddy doesn't harm the bag and gets off of it. This clearly shows that Mr. McArdle cares more about the material possession of the bag rather than the interests of his son. This difference is exasperated due to the nature of what Teddy thinks about. We find out later in the story that Teddy is far more interested in philosophical ideas and what they mean rather than the physical realm. "If I hadn't seen them, then I wouldn't know they were there, and if I didn't know they were there, I wouldn't be able to say that they even exist." The materialism in adults continues when Mrs. McArdle asks about the whereabouts of her daughter. After Teddy responds that he gave her the Camera and allowed her to walk around the deck, Mr. McArdle doesn't care about if his daughter is lost but rather about the camera. "I want that camera, Teddy. You hear me? I want you to get down off that bag this minute, and I want that camera back in this room in five minutes- or there's going to be
one little genius among the missing." As a response Teddy goes out on the ship to find his sister when he finally finds her, he doesn't care about the camera but rather focus on his upcoming journaling session. The only reason Teddy went to find the camera was to appease his father's Materialistic tendencies rather than truly caring about the camera. After his journaling session, Teddy gets into a conversation that eventually leads to what he believes is the best form of education. Teddy takes a radical opinions and states his belief that before people learn they need to know themselves.” empty out everything their parents and everybody ever told them” the value of materials is man-made and Teddy thinks that in order to learn you need to miss that and find their value yourself, a direct opposite of his father.
Do you stand with Teddy or his father?

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