Miriam is a strange woman who visits Mrs. Miller, an elderly woman living alone. Miriam makes Mrs. Miller nervous by standing in her apartment. Miriam seems damaged and criminal, saying she feels like a genuine criminal. Mrs. Miller lives a solitary, stagnant life of repetition without friends. Miriam seems to represent Mrs. Miller's fears of loneliness manifested in a strange visitor.
3. Characteristics
• Grotesque
“I thought you´d never
answer, but I kept my finger
on the button, I knew you
were home.”(3)
“Sit down,” said Miriam. “It
makes me nervous to see
people stand.” (3)
5. Characteristics
• Tone of utter stagnation
Mrs. Miller’s life has been a
solitary life full of repetition
and ongoing routines that
were always the same.
6. Topics
• Freak:
• Mrs. HT Miller lived alone in a pleasant
apartment.
• Her interests were narrow, she had no friends
to speak of.
• Miriam gets nervous to see people stand.
7. The self and the other
• Mrs. Millers terrors = Miriam
Mrs. Miller has acted out of character and broken her daily routine by going to watch a movie, she has involuntarily created a figure. She creates a double figure in order to carry out her desire to watch the movie and act out of the norm. Miriam becomes her double figure but she soon realizes she cannot bear to confront it. She disturbs her “peace”, her solitude which has been her only friend.