Thorwald's Short Story 'Rear Window'

“Rear Window” is a short story about a bedridden man named Jeff who watches his neighbors through his rear window to ward off boredom. During his observation, he inadvertently witnesses a murder. It was adapted into a feature-length film titled Rear Window, which adds one major character and alters another, but retains the same setting and conflict.

“Rear Window” is presented in a first-person perspective, with the story’s protagonist Jeff acting as the narrator. Due to the fact that he is isolated throughout much of the story, most of his major character traits are revealed through internal dialogue, though he also directly interacts with his caretaker Sam and a detective named Boyne. After Boyne dismisses Jeff’s suspicions about Mr.

Though is behavior throughout the story has been strange, nothing he has done has implicated guilt. Though most would be surprised by a strange letter being slipped under their door, Thorwald’s reaction is extreme. Throughout the story, Boyne has dismissed every aspect of Jeff’s case against Thorwald, which plants doubt in the reader’s mind as well. As a result of this extreme reaction, the reader is further convinced that Thorwald is guilty. Jeff has another internal dialogue, deciding that in order to prove Thorwald’s guilt to the police, he must show them a body, as it is the only thing that could definitely prove that a crime was committed.

An interesting aspect of “Rear Window” is the relationship between Jeff and Thorwald. Normally in a story, the protagonist and the antagonist are in direct conflict. In “Rear Window”, Thorwald is not even aware that he is being observed until Jeff has Sam deliver the note. Though he is not the antagonist, Boyne opposes Jeff’s actions more than Thorwald initially

Though the scene up until this point has consisted primarily of medium shots, a long shot of Lisa is shown to indicate distance. Another interesting aspect of this shot is the black vignette around Lisa, which allows the viewer to see what is transpiring through Jeff’s camera.

A few brief shots shows Jeff and Stella watching Lisa walk down the hall as she walks down the hallway towards Thorwald’s apartment. The framing in this shot creates tension, as there are only two doors separating Lisa from a murderer. Thorwald reads the letter and exits his apartment in pursuit of Lisa. This is extremely tense, as Jeff and Stella are unable to aid Lisa in her escape.

Lisa returns to the apartment and asks how Thorwald reacted to the letter. Jeff proudly smiles at her, likely due to the fact that she is proving that she is capable of putting herself in danger, whereas Jeff did not initially believe she was capable of doing so.

In conclusion, “Rear Window” does a fantastic job of building character through descriptive narration and creating tension through context. Though it does not feature a narrator, Rear Window manages to match the original work in both character development and tension through creative shots and