Bill enters the Stone’s apartment “He [sees] everything”, when the cat appears he “[strokes] her twice and [carries] her into the bathroom”. The theme of voyeurism is enhanced by Bill seeing everything. The way that he Carver gives the precise number of times that Bill strokes the cat is effective in giving the impression that Bill doesn’t belong in the apartment. It allows the reader to experience the sense of being in someone else’s house without them being there. There is always an unwritten code of how to behave and this quote shows that Bill is being closely analyzed by Carver. Perhaps Carver is trying to assume the position of the Stones, watching Bill as he emulates their lives. Bill lies on their bed with “his hand under his belt” trying to recall what day it was, he almost acts how he thinks Jim or Harriet Stone would act. He tries so hard to copy them, that he forgets their names and faces and how “they talked and dressed”. They almost become irrelevant, compared to the objects in the apartment that Bill uses at his free will.
Once he has changed into Harriet Stone’s clothes “For a long time he [looks] out the living-room window from behind the curtain”. Firstly, he is looking out on the world, observing it, whilst he remains in the Stone’s apartment. He feels that there is a link between him and the world, but the Stone’s apartment acts as a firewall that he can remain behind. Secondly, Bill and Arlene are both accused by each other for spending unnecessary amounts of time in the Stone’s apartment. This quote is an example of Carver’s minimalist technique, the way he has simple stated “for a long time”, we only realize exactly how long this is further on in the story when Bill is told that he was actually in the apartment for substantially longer than he thought.
Bill is affected so much by the apartment that he looses his hunger. He is so anxious to get back to the apartment. In a way he has swapped positions with the Stones in a sense that he now feels a little awkward in his own home, perhaps not feeling his creature comforts as strongly as he may have before. Their relationship does not appear to be close. “They looked at each other shyly” then “quickly cleared the dishes”. They both realize that the Stones apartment acts as a trigger, giving them a thrill and possibly sexual excitement. This time Arlene goes over to the apartment and Bill is told to “Make [himself] comfortable”. This sounds as though he is in a doctors waiting room, not at home. Bill cannot stay at home for very long, or so it seems, but Carver’s minimalist writing technique is deceiving as according to Bill, Arlene has been over in the Stone’s apartment for a long time.
The way Arlene’s hand has to be guided by Bill back to their own knob is interesting as it shows how deluded Arlene has become. Bill notices how “the colour [is] high in her cheeks” and then they start kissing. This suggests that the apartment is acting as a sexual trigger between them both. They both know this fact, hence the shy looks at each other, but they never admit it to one another almost as if it is an embarrassment to do so. Arlene tells Bill how she “truly forgot” what she was meant to do (feed Kitty). Throughout this story Kitty acts as the justified excuse they both use to keep venturing into the Stones apartment, but in the end they forget this excuse totally as they become so absorbed in the Stones lives.
They are so immersed in the Stone’s lives that they even begin to doubt whether they will actually return to their apartment. Interestingly the Stone’s are never referred to as Harriet and Jim, it’s always “they”. This techniques gives the impression that the Stone’s do not want to mention their names because it suggests that they are familiar to them, or maybe separate to them, whereas this less personal title of “they” means that it could be referring to anyone. The point here is that the Stones are both trying to forget about the people and personalities of their neighbors, and live their lives. The final part of the story explains how they accidentally leave the key inside the apartment and are now locked out. They are both very melodramatic about the situation. The simple solution is clear yet it is never mentioned. They assume that because they don’t have one set of keys they cannot get in, or that the door is an indestructible barrier between them and the apartment. This thrill again acts as a trigger as “her breathing was hard, expectant”. The final sentence is a very effective ending. They “[brace] themselves” against the wind. They feel that the wind symbolizes the outside world, and they have to brace themselves because they have locked something, a part of them, inside the apartment. They have nothing other to hold onto but each other.
