Neighbors

Has jealously ever made you take action in ways that you wouldn't normally? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in someone else's shoes? If given the opportunity, would you step into his or her daily lifestyle? In the short story "Neighbors" by Raymond Carver, a young couple proves that the parasite of a trait, known as jealously, rarely has a happy ending.

Jealously by definition is a resentful, suspicious, envious feeling of the mind. This is exactly what forced the Millers to act uncivilized when given the capability to befall into the seeming less better life of someone else. Ashamed of their jealousy, the couple kept it a secret and began lying to each other. Evidently, the Millers became obsessed in becoming someone else.

Bill Miller wanted to experience life in a more extravagant environment. He went through the everyday tasks that his next-door neighbors, the Stones, would perform. Many of these things he wouldn't normally do; for example, Bill stole from the Stones' apartment in order to make him feel superior. He even became so empowered by the life of his neighbors that he began to lose track of time. Jealousy influenced Bill to metamorphosis into somebody else.

Arlene Miller's jealousy also made her feel resentful towards her wealthy neighbors. She wished to have the same opportunities her friends seemed to have. As time passed, Arlene also had the itch to snoop into the secrets of their neighbor's home. She found exactly what she was searching for, something to prove that the Stones' didn't live the perfect life. Ironically, due to her discovery and jealousy the unbelievable fell upon her. She realized she was locked out of her neighbor's apartment. Arlene left the incriminating photos laying on the bed.

The Millers' raging jealousy set them up for disaster. When the Millers became meddlesome and resentful. They changed spontaneously and started to become different people. Both were very unreliable and unfaithful to their unbeknown neighbors, the Stones. Jealousy caused the Millers to become entangled in disaster and scared to their wits end of being discovered for the shameful neighbors they have developed into.