Carver and Conflation
Humans are never completely satisfied. They always manage to find something about themselves-their looks, their job, their social status-that is substandard. The discontent with one's self often arises when he compares himself to another. The comparison leads to envy or jealousy and even a want to be the other person. Thus is the case of Bill and Arlene Miller in Robert Carver's short story "Neighbors." The Millers are a middle class couple not "completely satisfied" with their mundane life, especially when they constantly compare it to that of their neighbors Jim and Harriet Stone. Carver effectively expresses his theme of man's incapability for total satisfaction by utilizing the paradox that makes a theme what it is. Carver conflates the identifiable images of the Millers and the Stones with a unique and eerie exaggeration of what people do when house-sitting for their neighbors. At first glance, the Millers and the Stones are "normal." Carver introduces, as well as compares, the couples as follows:Bill and Arlene Miller were a happy c
Carver uses childhood games like pretend and dress-up and applies it to Bill's aspiration to become the Stones. ] that the Stones lived a fuller and brighter life. The couples' social group is no different than that of an average person's in the sense that there is a recurrent tendency to compare. The degree of Bill's acts bring to the surface the basic and universal desire that people have to be somebody else by making them uncomfortable. What happens while Jim and Harriet are gone contrasts the unpretentiousness of Bill's personality that his job suggests. Thus far, it is easy to relate to the couples, especially the Millers. Carver recognizes this urge and shows how Bill takes advantage of his situation. Carver describes Bill trying on one of Jim's suits, a pair of his shoes and a Hawaiian shirt as well as Harriet's underwear (65-6). The chance to explore the differences that the Millers find in their comparisons arrives when the Stones entrust their neighbors to house-sit while they go on vacation. The envy has led to more than a curiosity as to how his neighbors live; it has manifested into a desire to be them.
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