Patterns in the carpet : idiosyncratic repetition in Thomas Hardy's short stories

Too long ignored by scholars of the short story in general and Thomas Hardy's work in particular, the four volumes which Hardy devoted to short fiction represent significant claims on the attention of both. The stories show him grappling with the technical demands of a spatially constricted and (at the time) none too regimented genre as well as with the clear expression of his own view of human experience. His response to both challenges was to rely on various patterns of narrative technique, characterization, and thematic development which lent themselves generally to an economic presentation of his philosophical stance. The present study examines the artistic and thematic effects of those patterns. Most discussions of Hardy's philosophy have emphasized his belief in the dominance of chance in an indifferent universe, but the short story patterns consistently reflect his additional awareness that human beings contribute significantly to the shape of their destinies by their specific responses to chance and circumstance. His plot patterns demonstrate the fateful influence of both inexplicable cosmic coincidence and problematical human constructs such as conventional marriages and class prejudice. His preference for an external narrative perspective, through either an omniscient narrator or a superimposed frame persona, permits him to analyze both influences directly, though without long, novel-like digressions. The setting patterns, too, show Hardy striving for both economy and thematic clarity, as-aside from an occasional poetic evocation of nature's power over humanity-he sketches in only those ordinary details of his characters' surroundings that somehow reflect the quality and outcome of their interaction with chance. The characters themselves present the most noticeable patterns in the stories and emphasize most clearly the importance of individual choice and action. Five recm-rent types illustrate Hardy's impressions of the primary human responses to life-from the aggressive manipulators and schemers, driven by ego and ambition, to the passive stoics, drifters, and imaginative women, characterized respectively by endurance, avoidance, and escapism. Subtle patterns of emblematic imagery highlight the choices each mind-set inspires. All of Hardy's fundamental patterns, however, produce continual insightful variations that allow him to reflect universal truths through individual experiences.