Raymond Carvers The Neighbors

2 Pages 570 Words

Critical Essay

Raymond Carver’s 1988 short story “Neighbors” displays a sure administration of theme, character, and setting. It is the tale of a seemingly typical couple, Bill and Arlene Miller, who intermittently turn the apartment of their out-of-town neighbors, the Stones, into a psychosexual playground. Insidiously at first, then with unrestraint, the house-sitters invade the Stones’ privacy: cross-dressing in their clothes, consuming drinks from their liquor cabinet, and extricating photographs that promise tantalizing thrills. Impassioned, the Millers’ make what promises to be a compelling visit to the Stones’ apartment – only to discover that Arlene has locked the key inside. Abruptly restricted from their fallen rapture, the couple huddles outside the door, feeling an ailing wind.
In the exposition, Bill and Arlene are portrayed as an average married couple, living their normal everyday lives. They do not appear to have any complaints about how their lives are operating except for the fact that they “had been passed by somehow, leaving Bill to attend to his bookkeeping duties and Arlene occupied with secretarial chores” (59). The Millers’ are envious of other couples that seem to exist synonymously with them but still have a little more recreation in their relationships. By asking the couple to house-sit, the Stones’ open a new realm of fantasy for the Millers’ predictable lives by allowing them to envision themselves as characters that are different than what they have grown to be. Bill becomes deeply involved with this illusion, finding himself obsessed with the other apartment. He calls out of work and goes for a walk but does not feel adequate until he stops “at the Stones’ door on the chance he might hear the cat moving about” (60). This depicts that he has become so infatuated with his secret life that he becomes almost climactic over the smallest details.
The neighbors�...