Tim Lee

30/8/2015

Voyeurism and living vicariously through others is

clearly a normal response to an empty life. Discuss.
Raymond Carvers anthology of short stories, Will You Please Be
Quiet, Please?, explores how a loss of fulfilment in life leads to the
need of external sources to feel satisfied. Carver focuses on the
despair and struggle of common lower class Americans, and how
dissatisfaction in life can lead to need to live voyeuristically and
vicariously through others. In particular, Carver alludes to
consequences of lack of intimacy in relationships can cause
individuals to lose interest and often require the assistance of
external means to feel satisfied with their lives. Furthermore, Carver
illustrates that paralysis in life often leads to the need of living
vicariously through others as a sense of escapism, as often
illustrated by Carvers characters.
Carver examines the struggle of lower class Americans and their
dissatisfaction in their own lives, leading to the requirement of living
through others to satisfy their needs. In stories such Neigbors, this
idea is evident in Bill and Arlene Miller needing the lives of their
neighbours Harriet and Jim Stones to satisfy their empty lives. The
result of their distasteful life causes the Millers to compare
themselves to the Stones, and eventually living as them while they
were on holiday. For this reason, the couple begin living vicariously
as Jim and Harriet to fulfil the void in their lives. It is evident that the
Millers are dissatisfied with their lives, through the need to compare
themselves to their neighbours but also their need to explore others
lives.
In many of Carvers stories, the root of relationship problems are
due to the lack of intimacy the couples once felt. When the lack of
affection and intimacy is missing in relationships, individuals tend
require external means to satisfy their needs, as they cannot be
satisfied by their partners. This is evident in The Idea with
unnamed narrator and her husband, Vern, spying on their
neighbours sexual acts. The voyeuristic behaviour of the two
characters suggests a lack of intimacy between the two, otherwise
theyll be committing the act rather than spying on others. It is also
evident that Vern gains greater satisfaction from the acts, arguing
what the hell would you do that for? against his wifes proposal to
have a word with the neighbours. Furthermore, Carver emphasises
the empty life of narrator and Vern through the food consumed, the
crackers, peanut butter, meatloaf, olives and potato chips all lack
vibrancy, similarly to their relationship. Likewise, the characters in
Neighbors experience a similar emptiness in life and lack of
intimacy between the two. The lack of intimacy is evident between
Bill and Arlene from early on as they were a happy couple. Carver
emphasises the need for voyeuristic behaviour from the characters
need to explore their neighbours apartment, and then having sex at

Tim Lee
30/8/2015
home. The lack of intimacy between Bill and Arlene causes the two
to require the assistance of external sources to help their
relationship and their empty lives.
Furthermore, Carver highlights the idea of paralysis can lead to
people to live vicariously. In many of Carvers characters, the static
lifestyle often causes dissatisfaction in life and lead to the need of
others to bring happiness or to simply forget the despair theyre
experiencing. In Fat, the narrators static life as a waitress is
evident from early on as she knows customers and her relationship
with co-workers. For this reason, the narrator associates herself with
the fat man, with his size symbolic of being static. The narrators
association with the man causes her to live vicariously momentarily,
causing the thought of the long, thick, creamy fingers and the
feeling of being terrifically fat to reoccur. This leads to the
narrators epiphany as [her] life is going to change. Similarly in
What do you do in San Francisco?, the narrator, Henry Robinsons
paralysis leads to his need to live vicariously through residents of his
mail route, especially the new resident. The narrator associates
himself with the new resident, Marston, seeing a younger image of
himself. This is evident in the divorce of Marston from his wife and
her taking the kids, similarly to the narrators past. The narrators
static, routine life, causes him to find others to bring excitement into
his life which is evident in the gossip the narrator has with others.
Voyeurism and the need to live vicariously are common when
individuals are dissatisfied with their own lives. Carver demonstrates
that through others, some characters are able to gain satisfaction
and help relationships, while others simply shift relationships further
apart. Furthermore, Carver demonstrates that paralysis further
induces the need to live vicariously, as often individuals are unable
to change their futures.