Problematizing the surface he helps us to see what james calls the primal plan something like a complex figure in a persian carpet fittingly the benjamin franklin professor emeritus at the university of chicago begins with two chapters on his namesake exploring bifocal ben s plea for human providence and his strategy for evangelizing future generations in his new gospel of self improvement.
The figure in the carpet themes.
What we can analyse in james s story is the narration and this is important for two reasons.
Com letter s area rug carpet alphabet capital theme with grunge looking figure living dining room bedroom hallway office 3 x4 grey silver kitchen.
In short the figure in the carpet has remained as elusive in its ultimate significance as the emblem in vereker s fiction that gives the story its title.
It may be that the figure in the carpet then was partly motivated by james s desire to offer his altogether more studied and subtle take on a similar theme to the one we encounter in wilde s story.
It could be argued that the figure in the carpet certainly focuses attention on one issue the pursuit of a mystery and has one principal character the narrator.
But these features are overwhelmed by something of a superfluity of incident.
What does seem incontestable however.
The unifying theme of the ironic readings of the story is that the figure is simply.
But this remains somewhat speculative.