us backupon himself. That this is an autobiographical book, I have no doubt. For even in the final fewpages of the book, Edmund askes the reader if he may “speak plainly (248).” Funny howhe asks permission now for what he has been doing throughout the book. Edmund feelsthat he surely “has a right to protest (248)” the final action that he shows us of his father. His father’s letter is represented at the end for selfish reasons. Only when the reader seesthe inflexibility and the “defiance” of the father’s letter can Edmund end with the sympathyof the reader. Edmund’s final act of narcissistic manipulation has us cheering when heends his autobiography by him “throwing off the yoke of dedication ...and fashioning aninner life for himself (251).” ...
