Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Moving Finger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love, Obsession, and Control
Beauty and Objectification
Grief and Loneliness
Summary
Analysis
Over the next 10 years, the narrator and others can see that Mr. Grancy seems to derive all of his happiness and productivity from Mrs. Grancy’s mysterious presence in his life. A few months after the narrator’s initial visit to Mr. Grancy’s house, he returns again to find that Mr. Grancy has moved the portrait upstairs to a small study. He tells the narrator that this is where he spends all of his alone time now—the library will be reserved for entertaining guests. Gradually, their old friend group reunites, and the men begin spending Sundays in Grancy’s library again. In retrospect, the narrator can see that Mr. Grancy was in ill health at this time, yet his high spirits hid any outward signs of weakness.
All of Mr. Grancy’s strength seemingly comes from the imaginary presence of Mrs. Grancy in his life, again suggesting that he depends on her to be happy—even if this means deluding himself into imagining that she’s still there with him. Mr. Grancy is so fixated on his late wife that he moves her portrait into a private room. He seemingly wants to isolate himself with Mrs. Grancy, the way he did years ago when he and Mrs. Grancy moved to the countryside, away from their friends. Meanwhile, despite Mr. Grancy appearing happy on the outside, he seems to have become literally sick with grief, suggesting that his inability to move on after Mrs. Grancy’s death is destroying him from within.
Themes
Literary Devices
One summer, the narrator returns home from vacationing in Europe and hears that Mr. Grancy nearly died while he was away. He hurries to the countryside, where Mr. Grancy is slowly recovering from his illness. Mr. Grancy reassures the narrator that although he’s an old man, “we” aren’t going to die yet. His use of this plural pronoun alarms the narrator, who looks up at Mrs. Grancy’s portrait and sees that she’s changed again—she looks like she knows her husband is dying. The narrator can hardly bear to look at what Claydon has done.
Mr. Grancy takes his delusion a step further here, as his use of the word “we” indicates that he really believes that he and Mrs. Grancy are a single entity. Mr. Grancy once again had Claydon alter Mrs. Grancy’s portrait, seemingly because he still wants to feel like Mrs. Grancy is his “prisoner” whom he can possess and control. This is also an indicator of how severely Mr. Grancy’s grief has affected him: he’s suffering both physically and mentally.
Themes
Mr. Grancy tells the narrator that while he was suffering from his illness, Mrs. Grancy was suffering even worse. He explains that Claydon kindly came as soon as Mr. Grancy sent for him. The narrator falls silent and leaves, feeling that he’s shutting Mr. Grancy in the house to die. The next time the narrator visits, however, Mr. Grancy looks much better, and he continues to improve over the coming months.
Again, Mr. Grancy has deluded himself into believing that Mrs. Grancy is suffering alongside him. Yet, rather than sparing her from this perceived suffering, he encourages it by changing Mrs. Grancy’s portrait to make her look even older and unhappier. This is further evidence that Mr. Grancy isn’t actually concerned with Mrs. Grancy feeling left behind—rather, he has the painting altered because he resents the idea of Mrs. Grancy staying young and beautiful while he grows old and tired.
Themes
One evening, the narrator runs into Claydon at the club and tells him that he should visit Mr. Grancy now that he’s healthy again. Mrs. Grancy’s prognosis for her husband, the narrator says coldly, was wrong. Claydon retorts that “she knows,” and when the narrator asks if this means that he intends to leave the portrait as it is, Claydon simply says that Mr. Grancy hasn’t sent for him yet.
The narrator implies that Claydon was making a strategic move when he changed Mrs. Grancy’s expression to make it look like she knew her husband was going to die. Claydon’s cold response seems to confirm this, suggesting that he wants Mrs. Grancy’s “prognosis” of Mr. Grancy’s impending death to come true. In other words, Claydon would rather have Mr. Grancy (one of his oldest friends) die than have to alter the portrait and tarnish Mrs. Grancy’s beauty again.
Themes
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Two weeks later, Mr. Grancy’s housekeeper sends a telegraph to the narrator informing him that Mr. Grancy has taken a turn for the worse. The narrator hurries to the house and learns that Mr. Grancy’s health is failing—the doctors won’t be able to do much for him. Mr. Grancy tells him that Mrs. Grancy was right after all: he’d realized he was going to die after Claydon altered the portrait for the second time, though Mr. Grancy hadn’t believed it at first.
Mr. Grancy’s sudden turn for the worse perhaps indicates that Mrs. Grancy’s portrait has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mrs. Grancy’s likeness seemed to know that Mr. Grancy was going to die. And in fixating so intently on Mrs. Grancy and refusing to let her go, changing her portrait to reflect his own physical deterioration, Mr. Grancy seemingly destroyed himself from the inside out.
Themes
Literary Devices
The narrator pleads with Mr. Grancy not to believe he’s going to die now, but Mr. Grancy is resigned to the fact that it’s too late—“she knew.” The narrator realizes that it’s easier to let Mr. Grancy believe that Mrs. Grancy did know. He reflects that, strangely, Claydon seems to have given Mr. Grancy what he wanted after all.
This passage seems to suggest that Mr. Grancy actually wanted to die, perhaps so that he could be reunited with Mrs. Grancy in the afterlife. This is yet another indicator of Mr. Grancy’s unhealthy obsession with his wife, as he would rather give up his life entirely than live without her.
Themes
Literary Devices
