How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
He then climbed the broad, shallow, carpeted steps up to Main Deck, one flight up. He took two steps at a time, but slowly, holding on to the banister, putting his whole body into it, as if the act of climbing a flight of stairs was for him, as it is for many children, a moderately pleasurable end in itself. (3.1)
This is an interesting description; Teddy walks "as if" climbing were pleasurable for him the way it is for other kids. Does that mean that it is not, in fact, pleasurable for Teddy? Is he playing at being a "normal" child, or are there really elements to Teddy that are very child-like?
Quote #5
In a squatting position, with the sun at her back and a light breeze riffling her silky, blond hair, she was busily piling twelve or fourteen shuffleboard discs into two tangent stacks, one for the black discs, one for the red. A very small boy, in a cotton sun suit, was standing close by, on her right, purely in an observer's capacity. "Look!" Booper said commandingly to her brother as he approached. She sprawled forward and surrounded the two stacks of shuffleboard discs with her arms to show off her accomplishment, to isolate it from whatever else was aboard ship. "Myron," she said hostilely, addressing her companion, "you're making it all shadowy, so my brother can't see. Move your carcass." She shut her eyes and waited, with a cross-bearing grimace, till Myron moved. (3.14)
Salinger has such a great feel for the way children move and talk; this is a fantastic portrayal of a little girl playing around.
Quote #6
"You're the stupidest person I ever met," Booper said to him. "You're the stupidest person in this ocean. Did you know that?" (3.20)
Booper is a great foil for Teddy. Here we see what a little kid is actually supposed to look and sound like; a child is supposed to be selfish and emotional, unlike Teddy.