27 pages • 54 minutes read
Cornell WoolrichRear Window
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1942A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Point of View
“Rear Window” is narrated by its first-person protagonist, Hal Jeffries. As the story is told from Jeff’s point of view, the reader has access only to his thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. In addition to allowing the reader to see what he sees, Jeff often tries to control the reader’s interpretation of those sights. He pushes readers to reach the same judgments and conclusions that he does—even (or especially) when those conclusions are in doubt. The original title of the story, “It Had to Be Murder,” highlights this determined approach. Jeff refuses to make space for the reader’s doubts.
Jeff’s point of view is the key to the story’s mystery. Readers only learn things as Jeff discovers them, and this intimacy invites readers to share his anxieties. The reader is never sure whether Jeff is a reliable narrator, and his reliability is put into question throughout the story. He is not an objective observer; rather, his experiences and observations are filtered through his perceptions and biases. Jeff’s intense curiosity and voyeuristic tendencies give the reader concerns about his trustworthiness. His active imagination often leads him to jump to conclusions about the people he spies on, which adds a layer of complexity to the story’s plot.
Foil
Woolrich sets up Lars Thorwald as a foil for Jeff, using one character to highlight aspects of the other. At times, these facets are opposed. Thorwald kills his wife and conceals the body. Jeff works to uncover the mystery and the dead Anna Thorwald.
However, Woolrich frequently uses Thorwald to illustrate darker similarities with Jeff. Both men transgress the privacy of the other. Both have insomnia and spend their nights obsessing over murder. Both are in situations and settings that make them feel claustrophobic and trapped. Both wind up on the wrong side of the law at moments.
This dynamic unsettles the reader and somewhat undermines Jeff’s moral high ground. He retains the major virtue that he hasn’t murdered anyone, but he also didn’t have anyone to murder. Readers can never know the extent to which his virtue is an accident of his circumstances.
Setting
The story takes place in a small apartment complex in New York City during a hot, oppressive summer. The protagonist is confined to a chair and spends his days at his rear window. The setting plays a critical role in intensifying the atmosphere of the story. The claustrophobic nature of the apartment creates a sense of entrapment and vulnerability that is only intensified by the heat and humidity.
The confined environment of the apartment also provides the necessary context for the action to unfold. As Jeff surveys his surroundings, he observes the minutiae of his neighbors’ lives and uses the information he gathers to build narratives that lead him to the discovery of the murder. His incessant watching reveals the meaning and motivations behind his neighbors' actions as well as their habits and personalities.
Woolrich also plays with light and shadow as he alternately reveals and conceals elements of the story. While the darkness is heavy and “brood[ing],” the greatest dangers arise during moments of exposure, particularly when that exposure is sudden and intense.
Figurative Language
Throughout the text, Woolrich uses figurative language to illustrate Jeff’s perception of people as trapped in their lives. He depicts them as imprisoned by their habits: “They were all bound in them tighter than the tightest straitjacket” (19). Comparisons to mechanical objects and puppets also appear, reinforcing the sense that the people he observes lack agency, moving through their lives driven by habit and momentum.
The meaning of the original title, “It Had to Be Murder,” is that Thorwald must have murdered his wife. However, the pervading suggestion that people are trapped adds dimensions and possibilities to the central crime. Was it inevitable? Or could Thorwald only free himself through the drastic action of murdering his wife? After all, Jeff becomes suspicious because of the crime’s impact on Thorwald’s routine. Perhaps, for that routine to be escaped or altered, “it had to be murder.”
