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© 1998-2000 C. Petrovic

A Piece of Carpet was published on this site October 1998. It is the property of Erin B. Lillis and may not be reproduced without her permission. Thank you Erin for sharin'!

A Piece of Carpet was originally written . Published on this site October '98. It is the property of Erin B. Lillis and may not be reproduced without her permission.

A Piece of Carpet by: Erin B. Lillis

       In Winona Ryder’s movie, “Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael”, the 
     character of Dinky Bossetti spends the duration of the film 
     searching for a symbolic piece of carpet. She constantly takes 
     little pieces from her father’s carpet store for her arc and it’s
     menagerie and instructs her animals to keep to their own pieces 
     of carpet without fully realizing her motivation for doing so.  
     It’s their sense of belonging to the animal society which she has 
     created but Dinky herself never quite fits into the human society 
     that she is forced to live in.  Her search for a piece of carpet 
     parallels that of the story of Wheaton, the newest canine addition
     to Dinky’s arc.

       The scruffy dog has been brought to the arc and is introduced 
     to the other animals (all of whom are used to their surroundings
     and already have their own pieces of carpet). The dog initially 
     fits in because he is equally unwanted by society but he’s new to
     the arc and therefore doesn’t quite belong yet.  Most importantly, 
     he doesn’t have a name.

       The scruffy girl has returned to the town and is put in school 
     with the other teens who already know their place in the environment.  
     Dinky is from the town but as is stated by Beannie, “She’s new. 
     Kind of.  She’s been here in the summers and all but she’s always
     getting sent off somewhere on account of her weirdness.  So you 
     know how when someone’s new in school you gotta make fun of them 
     for a while to break them in.  Well with Dinky Bossetti you really
     gotta make fun of her cuz she’s Dinky.”  Dinky has a name, as the 
     dog does not, but it’s not truly her own; she’s adopted and her 
     search for Roxy Carmichael is her search for her identity.

       As the story continues, the dog gets trapped in the arc and Dinky 
     desperately desires to get out of Clyde, Ohio.  The dog eventually 
     gets a name, Wheaton, and begins to feel comfortable in his 
     surroundings.  Dinky thinks she’s discovered her real name (as
     Roxy Carmichael’s daughter) and begins to feel better about herself
     because she has this “knowledge.”  Wheaton, begins to fit in and
     thus it is time for him to get his own piece of carpet (a piece
     that is his and his alone).  The irony, however, is that Dinky’s 
     attempt to get Wheaton’s carpet finds her “parents’ having sex on
     the sample rugs (making a mockery of Dinky’s new found sense of 
     belonging).  Since the doctor recently told Rochelle that she 
     could conceive now, the very act that Dinky witnesses is the 
     possible conception of a new child between Les and Rochelle that 
     would have a name and a sense of belonging upon birth that Dinky
     never had.
	
       In the end Wheaton almost gets a new caretaker in the form of 
     Elizabeth, and Dinky almost gets a new mother in the form of Roxy 
     but it isn’t meant to be.  Instead Wheaton belongs with his new 
     family and his caretaker Dinky; and Dinky with her new sense of 
     belonging (due to Elizabeth, Gerald, and Denton) belongs with Les
     and Rochelle.  To signify this, Les gives Dinky a new piece of 
     carpet.*  The piece she was searching for was placed upon the 
     foundation she never realized she already had.

Magic Carpet Ride
               *It was black ... he “laid” it that morning. HA!