The Tapestry Symbol Analysis

The image on the tapestry Nicholas discovers in the lumber room becomes a symbol for the story’s conflict between wildness and propriety, suggesting that Nicholas’s wildness will triumph over the aunt’s attempts to subdue him. Nicholas is fascinated by this tapestry, which is a decorative fire-screen, but to him is “a living, breathing story.” It shows a picture of a huntsman who has shot an arrow into a stag, and his two spotted dogs leaping to join in the chase. For Nicholas, the most interesting part of the picture is the wolves who are approaching the huntsman from the woods, suggesting that he feels a sense of kinship with these wild creatures. He notices that the huntsman has only two arrows left in his quiver, which would not suffice to take down the four wolves headed his way. Also, Nicholas does not have a high opinion of the huntsman’s skills, noting that he shot the stag at very close range in a heavily wooded area that must have hidden him well. In the story, this bumbling huntsman represents adults like the aunt who believe themselves to be in power and are convinced they are enforcing order, but they are in reality unprepared to take on clever young people with wild ideas (like Nicholas). To Nicholas, the odds are stacked against the huntsman and he initially concludes that “the man and his dogs were in a tight corner.” However, he returns to thinking about this tapestry again at the end of the story, and comes up with a solution that might permit the hunter to escape the wolves: “it was just possible, he considered, that the huntsman would escape with his hounds while the wolves feasted on the stricken stag.” To save life and limb, the huntsman must sacrifice his prize and leave it to the wolves. That the wolves will still feat implies that Nicholas (and others like him) will not be stopped by mere rules and aunts, but since the huntsman might escape, Nicholas seems to be acknowledging that the aunt might not immediately be defeated.