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''The Real Right Thing'' is a short story written by Henry James and published in 1899. ==Plot Summary== The story begins with the mention of Ashton Doyne, a distinguished writer, who left his wife a widow. Mrs. Doyne decides to write a biography about her husband. Three months after the author’s death, Mr. George Withermore, a young journalist and friend of the author, is approached by Mr. Doyne’s publishers stating that Mrs. Doyne wants him to take on the role of writing her husband’s biography. Withermore is surprised with this request. Nevertheless, Withermore takes the offer. Mr. Withermore and Mrs.Doyne make an arrangement to finally meet. Mr. Withermore tells us his impression of Mrs.Doyne. He says she is "strange" and "never thought her an agreeable one". Mrs.Doyne's intention to write the biography was not based on her behalf of her husband but of herself. "She had not taken Doyne seriously enough in life, but the biography should be a solid reply to every imputation on herself." Mrs. Doyne takes George Withermore into her husband's study."〔Dover, Adrian."The Real Right Thing.p.1-2"〕 Mrs. Doyne leaves George Withermore alone for him to look over pieces of her husband's past. Every now and then she'd pop her head in to check on him, and he'd thank her for her help. It becomes apparent that even though her husband may not have trusted her, she trusted his friend George. George determines that although she acts okay, Mrs. Doyne is not at peace yet with the death of her husband and the anxiety-causing grief follows her around. Although she leaves the room quite frequently, George thinks that he can feel her; one night while sitting at Ashton's desk looking over his correspondence, he feels as though someone is watching behind him. It was Mrs. Doyne who had entered the room without making a sound. When this encounter happens, George admits that he believed it was Ashton himself standing behind him. Mrs. Doyne admits that she still feels as though Asthon is around her, which George finds very surprising. George tells Mrs. Doyne that working in the place his friend worked, using his utensils and reading his written word, he feels as though Ashton is just out for a walk, and it seems impossible that he is really gone. As their discussion on this matter deepens, Mrs. Doyne reveals to George that she truly believes Ashton is around, to which George laughs and says that they better keep him happy if he is. Mrs. Doyne looks at him with a "vague distress" look in her eyes. Mrs. Doyne exits the room that evening telling George that she only came in to see if he needed help, convincing George that she did only have his best interest at heart."〔Dover, Adrian."The Real Right Thing.p.3"〕 George starts to anticipate the evenings more and more each day because he enjoys going to the house and feeling a personal connection to Ashton's rumored presence; he looks forward to going there every evening. George is elated with feelings that what he is doing is exactly what his friend wanted him to do, and that he trusted George enough to let him in on his deepest secrets. George is determined to make Ashton and his secrets come out in a very beautiful way - only enhancing people's views on Ashton, not diminishing them. There are moments when George feels his dead friend lightly breathing in his hair and that he was leaning his elbows against the table in front of him. There were even moments where he would peer across the table and see his friend as vividly as he saw the papers in front of him. Ashton's spirit remains quietly within the room, almost like a "discreet librarian," just making sure that his prized possessions were being taken care of in the best way possible. George starts to hear the shuffling of documents that he placed on the table as well as papers he misplaced being put into his line of view. Drawers and boxes started opening on their own, and George is determined that he saw Ashton."〔Dover, Adrian."The Real Right Thing.p.4"〕 After receiving what he thought to be cues and guidance from the spirit of Ashton, he waited for days and made sure to take notice of anything that felt out of the ordinary and that could have been understood as the next step in the construction of the biography. As time passed, George began to feel “sad” and “uneasy” about not being surrounded by the spirit of Ashton. Suddenly, George found himself restless in the room and felt as if something had been out of place because of this feeling. As George finds himself on the stairs staring at Mrs. Doyne, they suddenly wind up in her room and begin to discuss what seems to be the passing spirit of Ashton throughout the house. Mrs. Doyne seems to have known that the spirit of her husband was in the room with George and knows that the spirit had gone back and forth between his room and hers and even passed them while they were on the stairs. After they speak about where his spirit had been lurking, they sit hand in hand in silence completely alone (at this point, they felt as if the spirit had vanished.) After George interrupts the silence because of a sudden feeling of anxiety, Mrs. Doyne states, “I only want to do the real right thing.” They begin to question what it is that they are doing and whether or not it is the right thing in honor of Ashton. George goes back and reviews what he had previously written to make sure it was thorough and suddenly, Mrs. Doyne feels the spirit. Although Withermore and Ashton were best friends, the presence did not leave off good a feeling. In fact, Withermore got this negative feeling while he was writing about Ashton. Withermore wanted to let Mrs.Doyne know that maybe we shouldn’t do what we are doing we shouldn’t just lay out his life in front of this world letting everyone know about him. Withermore is not satisfied with what he is doing. At the end Withermore finally tells Mrs.Doyne to end the completion of the biography. Mrs.Doyne still doesn’t want to give up on writing about his life but finally agrees with Withermore to bring an end in writing his biography. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Real Right Thing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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