Sample Response to Viewing Journal 6:  Rear Window

Question

The writer is responding to the following question from the journal assignment: In Jeffries' apartment, we see him and Lisa discussing the future of their relationship.  Across the way, "Miss Lonelyhearts" converses with imaginary dinner guests, "Miss Torso" entertains men, the composer writes a love song, the newly married couple remains secreted behind a drawn shade, and Thorwald kills his wife.  Discuss the connections between Jeffries and Lisa's  relationship and the romantic relationships depicted in the building Jeffries watches.  In your discussion, you may want to consider possible parallels between the single women and Lisa or parallels between the Thorwalds and Lisa and Jeffries (one member of each couple is an invalid, Lisa takes and wears Mrs. Thorwald's ring). 
 

Response

Lisa and Jeffries' relationship parallels with many of the couples and single individuals across the way of Jeffries' apartment.  Every time Lisa brings up their future, Jeffries seems uninterested, looks out the window, and compares their relationship to someone in the building across the way.  All of the individuals occupying the other building Jeff looks into seem as if they are in a frame throughout the entire movie.  Most of the important happenings we see occur with Jeff's neighbors framed in their windows, making  it easy for Lisa and Jeff to compare themselves to the neighbors. 

Miss Lonelyhearts has dinner with an imaginary guest.  She talks to him,  seems taken by his charming personality, and ends up crying herself to sleep.   This woman appears relatively happy on the outside, but inside she is very depressed.  In comparison, Lisa orders dinner for her and Jeff and hopes that this time he'll finally come around and realize how much he loves her.  Lisa  begins to bring up this issue, but Jeff stops her instantly.  He is afraid of  getting into a relationship with her, (who in their right mind could turn down Grace Kelly), and is reluctant to even talk about the subject.  Lisa  lays out this perfect dinner and she thinks everything is perfect, and even says something to support this.  Right here Lisa resembles Miss Lonelyhearts.  Outside everything seems okay at least, but inside Lisa is crying and  confused about why Jeff won't be more involved.  Jeff says something about Miss Lonelyhearts and how her dinner is like theirs.  But how could her  dinner even compare.  She's probably in her late thirties, living alone.  Jeff and Lisa have each other and want one another to feel safe and loved.  To show how much she loves Jeff, Lisa comes over in a later scene very  lightly packed and states that she can deal with an adventurous lifestyle.  Not even this wins Jeffries over. Later when Lisa is in Thorwald's apartment,  Jeff's true feelings of how much he cares for Lisa do come out.

Miss Torso entertains her guests, all men, whom Lisa calls wolves.  Lisa compares herself to Miss Torso in saying something to the effect of "she  doesn't love any of them".  At this moment, she seems to be thinking about  her present relationship with Jeff.  Why should she stick around any longer if he isn't willing to put in any effort, or make excuses why they could never  be married?  She puts forth so much effort. Risking her life to find evidence  of a murder, expensive dinners, and proving that she could live his life, if  he'd give her a chance.  Lisa even takes part in Jeff's 'watching', and  starts to believe everything he says.  Love between the two begins to grow,  mostly on Jeff's part.  Simple gestures, touches on her hand, even letting Lisa spend the night and conversing more and more with her.  He begins to  pry more into her life and is increasingly taken by her beauty and  content of her speech.

In the end, this all pays off.  As a character, Lisa  begins to change also.  She tries harder to please Jeff, hangs out with him  for longer periods of time, and like Miss Torso, knows that she has only one  love.  Lisa knows she could date any man she wanted just like Miss Torso, but as is similar to both women, they are only truly in love with one man.  A composer across the way writes a love song ironically called Lisa.  Not until the end of the film does he complete it and saves Miss Lonelyhearts from suicide.  This song is troubling him,  paralleling Lisa and Jeff's relationship troubles.  They overcome all of  their fears and troubles of being  with each other, and realize that as long as they are with each other everything will always be okay.   As the two come to this realization at the end of the film, the composer  finishes his love song.  

A newlywed couple is only seen together in the very start of the film, and when  all of the characters come out of their windows to their balconies (for the one and only  time).  After that, only the man is seen as the wife yells for him to come back in and he disappears once again.  In relation to Jeff and Lisa, they are always in the darkness of Jeff's room, not letting  anyone else see what is going on in there.  This is with the exception of Lisa being seen by Mr. Thorwald, just like the newlywed husband.  Jeff and Lisa seen to be hiding themselves in only the middle part of the film until they realize their love for each other, and Lisa comes out of the darkness near  the ending of the movie in order to foil Thorwald's evil plot, kind of a "knight" in shining armor.  

Finally, Thorwald kills his wife. Maybe because of his mistress, or maybe  because she was an   invalid. Like Mrs. Thorwald, Jeffries is an invalid.  Consequently, most of  the total action in the film   takes place in a very confined space, as does action in the Thorwald's  apartment.  Even after Lisa flashes Mrs. Thorwald's wedding ring to Jeffries, his struggle with Mr.  Thorwald takes place in Jeff's apartment.  Function of the wedding ring is quite significant.  Lisa doesn't  end up going over to the  Thorwald's apartment until after she and Jeff have built their relationship  into love, on both parts.  This  act, if had previously occurred, wouldn't have made as much sense because of  the couple's only lukewarm feelings for each other.  When Lisa wears the ring, their feelings are  true and more red-hot than  ever.  Discovery of the ring also confirms Jeffries' guess to the reason Mrs. Thorwald couldn't just be on vacation.  Mr. Thorwald doesn't seem to care about precaution too much.   He cleans his swords, or knives, right in front of the open window for anyone to see.  Also, many  suspicious characters enter and exit his apartment, as well as himself, many different times in the  middle of the night, providing even more evidence to support Jeffries' conclusion of the murder.