Rear Window

Hal Jeffries’s isolation structures and drives the story. It gives rise to the voyeurism that guides each step of the plot. But ultimately, his isolation proves as fragile as glass, and he must contend with the consequences of his involvement in the affairs of others.

As the story begins, Jeff is physically confined to his apartment and cut off from the world around him. He is unable to interact with others and becomes increasingly obsessed with the lives of his neighbors. The obsession reinforces the reader’s sense of Jeff’s isolation as he watches the world go by without participating in it.

But while Jeff is frustrated by his isolation, he also revels in a sense of invulnerability that accompanies it. He feels in control at his seat by the window and retreats when there’s a possibility of being seen: “I withdrew several yards inside my room, to let it go safely by. I didn’t want him to think I was sitting there prying into his affairs” (17). The only gaze that seems to trouble him at the beginning of the story is the reader’s, and he tries to control even that. He says that readers could “mistake” his spying for the actions of a “Peeping Tom,” but “that wasn’t my fault, that wasn’t the idea” (15).