ほしい

[eeky]

ほしい again!

その顔には、女の人がピーターを見る時は、ちょうどそんな表情をしてほしいと、ピーターが思っているような表情が、浮かんでいました。

Is there an implied 女の人にちょうどそんな表情をしてほしい here?

 

[Toritoribe]

Probably, yes. Grammatically, it can mean ピーターにちょうどそんな表情をしてほしい if その顔 refers to Perer's face. (In other words, the person of そんな表情 refers to the same person as the one whom その顔 refers to.)

 

[eeky]

My theory is that その顔 refers to the face of a specific girl in the story, 女の人 refers to women in general, the subject of してほしい is Peter, and the target of してほしい is women in general (same as 女の人). Does that make sense together?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, that's my interpretation of "probably, yes", and that's probably correct. (That fits the context, doesn't that?)
Another interpretation is: その顔 refers to Peter's face, 女の人 refers to women in general, the subject of してほしい is also women in general (same as 女の人), and the target of してほしい is Peter. (Peter had an expression Peter thought women in general would hope him to have.) Grammatically, this is also possible.

 

[eeky]

Yes, that's my interpretation of "probably, yes", and that's probably correct.

Good, thanks, yes, that fits the context.