Neighbors
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Through ridicule, Carver suggests both the unhealthiness of sexual relations between the Millers and the inadequacy of seeking fulfillment solely outside oneself. The conclusion shows no trace of contempt, however, as Carver avoids the belittling endings of “Theyre Not Your Husband” and, as we shall see, “Jerry and Molly and Sam,” focusing instead on just how desperately empty the Millers feel. Longing for more than their meager allotment, Arlene and Bill hope that their neighbors will not return, pathetically intimating that the Stones apartment is a talisman that can magically transform their lives; it is of course, just and apartment. [71]
Kirk Nesset in his The Stories of Raymond Carver: A Critical Study writes:
“Neighbors,” a tale of marriage in the process of diminishing. As with so many of Carvers fictive marriages, the story deals less with love or passion than with its conspicuous absence, and with the symptoms of loves withdrawal. It is the tale of Bill and Arlene Miller, a “happy couple” who, now that the original intensity of their marriage had dwindled, experience sexual titillation in the home of their neighbors, which they have agreed to look after[12]
And then theres Randolph Paul Runyons amazing miss-reading in his Reading Raymond Carver:
The conclusion of “Neighbors” sounds, however, a cautionary note. The Millers become so fascinated with the apartment across the hall that they forget the reason they were allowed there in the first place, neglecting to feed the cat or to water the plants. What is worse, they lock themselves out of their own apartment, having forgotten to bring along the key.[14]
Actually Arlene left the key to the Stones apartment inside the Stones apartment and now the Millers cant get back into that apartment. Which, as Bethea points out, is not really that big a deal because the apartment manager could let them back in. But that bit of reality intrusion is of no matter to the feeling of the ending that Carver produces.