Historical and Current Contexts

The novel is a narrative that is quite a fascinating thriller. The author employs the use of stylistics to create suspense and convey various contexts to his audience. Finn (2018), writes The Woman in the Window to reflect on today?s perceptions of the dynamics of social life. The author gives different perspectives of today?s marriages, death, families and social media usage. These contexts include:

Death and afterlife

The author of ?The Woman in the Window?, highlights the challenges that spouses deal with when their partners die. In the book, both the husband and the daughter of Anna have passed on. This leaves her in a state of despair and denial. Since she cannot accept their deaths, the social life of Anna is also affected. She develops hermit-like tendencies that make her become anti-social and withdrawn from the rest of her neighbors. For instance, she did not know the name of Dr. Miller?s wife. She, therefore, calls her ?Rita? because she is similar to one of the characters in the movies that she watches. Also, in the Agora site, the user ?grannylizzie? develops a phobia for open spaces when her husband passes on. Anna plays an important role in guiding her on how to deal with this condition because she feels that she has connected with the patient (Finn, 47). Both Anna and Lizzie represent the solitude that widows and widowers experience after the death of their spouses.

Dejectedly, because Anna cannot accept the deaths of the rest of her family members, she becomes obsessed with watching her neighbors from her window and drinking a lot of wine to suppress her sadness. She also misses the decorations that her family made using pumpkins during Halloween. She notes that her house is the only one in the neighborhood without the decorations (Finn, 13). This conveys to the audience that the death of close family members can result in the end of family traditions and habitual alcohol consumption in the remaining family members.  

Moreover, the author makes the audience to question the afterlife. Even though Ed and Olivia are dead, Anna can still contact them as ghosts. Anna is heavily invested in the thought of having her family back together again. In her discourse with the ghost of her husband, she states that she can nearly hear him breathe. To show the solitude of Anna?s character, the ghost of her husband states that, ?I?m sorry we?re not there with you?. In addition, the ghost of her husband urges her to be among the living- become more social. Her preference of the ghosts of her family to the company of her neighbors indicates the longing that Anna had to be reunited with her family, a rather impossible occurrence due to their deaths.

Marriage

The author analyses the relationships of various spouses whom Anna can have a view of from her window. Marriage is viewed as a union between partners who are committed towards each other. The author analyzes some of the threats to having a good marriage today. For instance, the marriage of Dr. Miller and Rita is threatened by the promiscuous tendencies of Rita. Also, it is probable that Alistair lost his job because of an affair with his boss? wife (Finn, 251).

Additionally, the marriage of the protagonist to Ed is described as one that has come to a halt due to the death of her husband and daughter. Because Anna is a widow, she analyses the marriages of her neighbors, and in a sadistic tone, hopes that their marriages may also come to an end. In the first chapter, it is evident that Anna longs for Rita to get caught in the act of cheating by Dr. Miller (Finn, 12). Also, the author introduces the conflict of how long a bereaved spouse should wait before dating somebody else. The physical therapist had helped Anna set up a dating profile online. The suggestion of her tenant, David, as her match by the software and her flirtatious encounter with him shows the dilemma in which Anna must choose whether to start a new relationship with a new partner or not.

Family Context

The author uses character selection to represent today?s family setups. For instance, the Millers are described as a wealthy, successful, childless family. In this family, Dr. Miller is the sole breadwinner who has a successful practice; while his wife remains at home and conducts charity activities. Even though the author indicates the cheating behavior of ?Rita?, he conveys to his audience that spouses who get too engaged and caught up in their work while their partners remain at home, tend to be cheated on. Moreover, the author also describes the family of Anna. It initially comprised of her husband Ed and Olivia, their daughter. In the previous year, Anna?s family had made plans to move to a new town based on the ?gut? feeling of Ed that there would be new job opportunities for him. The family values of trust and support are emphasized here since Anna and her daughter were willing to leave their luxurious home to support the dreams of Ed.

Further, the author uses the analogy of the new neighbors who are moving into the house across the park to emphasize on the similarity between the new family and that of Anna that, sadly, is riddled with the death of two members. The new family was similar to that of Anna?s in that it comprised of a husband, a wife and a teenage son. This analogy represents the family set-up that the protagonist once had; with her husband and teenage daughter. This conveys the morbidity of Anna to the audience.

Also, the author discusses the aspect of adoption in families. Ethan was adopted by Alistair and his wife when he was just five years old because his mother was a drug addict (Finn, 250). Moreover, Jane Russell was barren and wanted a child (Finn, 254). The author represents today?s society where adoption is common even when the biological mothers of the adopted children are alive. Sometimes the biological parents of the adopted children are involved in the families of the new adopting parents while sometimes they are not; just as Ethan?s mother wasn?t.

Cyber-stalking and Social media

The author states that Anna would also pry on the online profiles of the neighbors that she watched from her window. She would occasionally check the LinkedIn profiles and the Facebook pages of the Millers. This was how she had come to learn about their new wedding and the dynamics of their marriage. Also, she learns the names of her new neighbors from the post of the deed of sale of the house. Using her neighbors? names, she googles Alistair and Jane Russell to find out more about them. This context serves the purpose of informing the audience of the book to be careful about the type of information that they post on social media platforms. Personal, sensitive information about an individual should not be posted because, just as Anna, there are other online stalkers. The author also mentions the fraudulent online behavior of some of the online users. As Anna assists Lizzie to set up an online account, the old lady is afraid of being hacked. Also, the mention of the email from a Nigerian prince on Anna?s computer indicates the presence of conmen on the internet (Finn, 181). Similarly, Ethan pretends to be Lizzie on the Agora website just to engage Anna. These scenarios by the author serve to convey to the readers instances of fraud and conmanship that see several people lose their money online. There are stalkers on social media who can use personal information to infringe on one?s privacy as well as carry out fraudulent activities.