A Warning to the Curious

by

M. R. James

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The Narrator Character Analysis

The unnamed narrator meets Paxton in Seaburgh, where the narrator regularly goes to play golf with his friend, Henry Long. The narrator is puzzled by Paxton’s agitated manner at first, but he welcomes his company and gets along with him well. Impressed and fascinated by Paxton’s story of finding the crown, the narrator doesn’t pass any judgment. As a regular visitor, the narrator is more enmeshed in the community of Seaburgh than Paxton is, but he is of course still an outsider and does not share the cultural value that the locals place on the crown. The narrator says he will help Paxton return the crown, but really he and Henry Long merely accompany Paxton on the journey. The narrator sees and senses evidence of William Ager’s ghost, but the ghost doesn’t target the narrator, and the narrator never touches the crown himself. After returning the crown, the narrator can tell that Paxton is still in danger. He wants to help by making sure Paxton always has company, but Paxton has no friends or family. The narrator realizes that the ghost will kill Paxton, and he eventually comes across Paxton’s gruesomely murdered body. He never tells the media about the ghost or the crown in an effort to stay loyal to Paxton. The entire ordeal traumatizes the narrator, and he never goes back to Seaburgh again.

The Narrator Quotes in A Warning to the Curious

The A Warning to the Curious quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator or refer to The Narrator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
History, Culture, and Disrespect Theme Icon
).
A Warning to the Curious Quotes

“You see,” he said, “anybody would call it the greatest bit of luck. I did, but I don’t know. Of course I asked the shopman about William Ager, and of course he happened to remember that he lodged in a cottage in the North Field and died there.”

Related Characters: Paxton (speaker), The Narrator (speaker), Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 310
Explanation and Analysis:

You see, he’s light and weak, but all the same I daren't face him. Well, then, when I was making the tunnel, of course it was worse, and if I hadn't been so keen I should have dropped the whole thing and run. It was like someone scraping at my back all the time.

Related Characters: Paxton (speaker), The Narrator, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown
Page Number: 313
Explanation and Analysis:

We looked out of the window: there was a brilliant full moon—the Paschal moon.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:

Well, we were pretty regular customers of the hotel, and did not give much trouble, and were considered by the servants to be not under the mark in the way of tips; and so the boots was propitiated, and let us out on to the sea-front, and remained, as we heard later, looking after us.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long, The Boots
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:

But under observation we felt we were, as I have never felt it at another time. Specially was it so when we passed out of the churchyard into a narrow path with close high hedges, through which we hurried as Christian did through that Valley; and so got out into open fields.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 315
Explanation and Analysis:

Yet, in all this quiet, an acute, an acrid consciousness of a restrained hostility very near us, like a dog on a leash that might be let go at any moment.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 315
Explanation and Analysis:

You'll wonder why we didn't insist on accompanying him to his home and seeing him safe into the care of brothers or someone. The fact was he had nobody. He had had a flat in town, but lately he had made up his mind to settle for a time in Sweden[...]

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 316
Explanation and Analysis:

His tracks showed that he had run along the side of the battery, had turned sharp round the corner of it, and, small doubt of it, must have dashed straight into the open arms of someone who was waiting there. His mouth was full of sand and stones, and his teeth and jaws were broken to bits.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 319
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Narrator Quotes in A Warning to the Curious

The A Warning to the Curious quotes below are all either spoken by The Narrator or refer to The Narrator. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
History, Culture, and Disrespect Theme Icon
).
A Warning to the Curious Quotes

“You see,” he said, “anybody would call it the greatest bit of luck. I did, but I don’t know. Of course I asked the shopman about William Ager, and of course he happened to remember that he lodged in a cottage in the North Field and died there.”

Related Characters: Paxton (speaker), The Narrator (speaker), Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 310
Explanation and Analysis:

You see, he’s light and weak, but all the same I daren't face him. Well, then, when I was making the tunnel, of course it was worse, and if I hadn't been so keen I should have dropped the whole thing and run. It was like someone scraping at my back all the time.

Related Characters: Paxton (speaker), The Narrator, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown
Page Number: 313
Explanation and Analysis:

We looked out of the window: there was a brilliant full moon—the Paschal moon.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:

Well, we were pretty regular customers of the hotel, and did not give much trouble, and were considered by the servants to be not under the mark in the way of tips; and so the boots was propitiated, and let us out on to the sea-front, and remained, as we heard later, looking after us.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long, The Boots
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 314
Explanation and Analysis:

But under observation we felt we were, as I have never felt it at another time. Specially was it so when we passed out of the churchyard into a narrow path with close high hedges, through which we hurried as Christian did through that Valley; and so got out into open fields.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 315
Explanation and Analysis:

Yet, in all this quiet, an acute, an acrid consciousness of a restrained hostility very near us, like a dog on a leash that might be let go at any moment.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Crown, The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 315
Explanation and Analysis:

You'll wonder why we didn't insist on accompanying him to his home and seeing him safe into the care of brothers or someone. The fact was he had nobody. He had had a flat in town, but lately he had made up his mind to settle for a time in Sweden[...]

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 316
Explanation and Analysis:

His tracks showed that he had run along the side of the battery, had turned sharp round the corner of it, and, small doubt of it, must have dashed straight into the open arms of someone who was waiting there. His mouth was full of sand and stones, and his teeth and jaws were broken to bits.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Paxton, Henry Long
Related Symbols: The Ghost of William Ager
Page Number: 319
Explanation and Analysis: