Document Type
Article
Abstract
Henry James manipulates his readers unmercifully in "The Figure in the Carpet.” There are always lures, always tentative hopes that the secret, which is variously and curiously described, will in the end be made plain. In spite of the narrator's dashed expectations and waning enthusiasm to know what Vereker thought was the essential feature of his work, we readers still wonder. This paper will examine some of the ways that James arouses our desire for knowledge and meaning. By thwarting this desire, James tosses the gauntlet at our feet. It is the reader's task, not the writer's, at this point to struggle with indeterminacy and to discern meaning.
Publication Date
1987
Journal Title
Draftings In
Volume
2
Issue
1
First Page
29
Last Page
34
Copyright
©1987 by the Board of Student Publications, University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Ellsworth, Ann
(1987)
"Denied Expectations,"
Draftings In: Vol. 2:
No.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/draftings/vol2/iss1/8
Comments
No cover/title page date shown on piece.
The article includes a section titled "Postscript: A Weaver's Note on How Figures Get Into Carpets"