Homesick for Another World

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2017

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“An Honest Woman”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“An Honest Woman” Summary

Jeb has lived in the same house for many years: he brags that seven presidents have come and gone since he’s been there. Jeb has been watching his new neighbor, an unnamed woman in her thirties, closely in the two months since she moved in. He observes that her boyfriend, a loud man who drives a motorcycle, has moved out, and that the woman is undertaking renovation projects on her own. Their first conversation is awkward, despite Jeb’s attempts to seem casual and folksy, and the neighbor seems uninterested in him. Jeb has a skin condition called vitiligo, which causes patches of his skin to be lighter in color than the surrounding skin. As he stares at her breasts and legs, he wonders what she thinks about his vitiligo. He tells her that, in some cultures, people with vitiligo are considered gods.

Jeb begins to listen to his neighbor through his basement window. He spends all day in the basement listening to her and imagining what her life is like. One day his nephew comes to visit, and Jeb encourages him to ask the neighbor out. The neighbor agrees, but when Jeb teases her about it later, she claims to be uninterested and invites Jeb to join them. Jeb suggests the two young people have a drink with him at his house before going on their date. The neighbor says she doesn’t care.

On the night of the date, a rainstorm prevents the nephew from coming. Jeb lies to the neighbor, saying he’s running late but will be there soon. The two drink whiskey while Jeb tries awkwardly to seduce the neighbor. Eventually, the neighbor confronts him, saying that she knows Jeb resents her for being young and single, and that he’s blaming her for the sexual rejection he’s faced in his life. Jeb dismisses this accusation but continues to try to get her into his bedroom. Finally, the neighbor straddles Jeb and asks if that is what he wants. Jeb is too shocked to respond, but he is aroused and tries to touch the neighbor. She jumps off before he is able to, and leaves, laughing at him.

The next day, Jeb does not listen to the neighbor in his basement, watching her through his kitchen window instead. He is annoyed to find that she is unbothered by their encounter, spending the day singing along to pop songs. Jeb lies to his nephew, saying that the neighbor is easy and that the nephew would be bored. A few days later, the neighbor’s boyfriend returns, and Jeb listens to them having sex repeatedly. Jeb leaves the house angrily and walks downtown, imagining a world in which his vitiligo is considered sacred.

“An Honest Woman” Analysis

The central tension in this story comes from the difference in perspective between Jeb and his neighbor. Moshfegh’s use of free indirect discourse—a third-person narrative technique in which the narrator’s voice approximates that of one or more characters—exposes the reader to both of these perspectives simultaneously. For most of the story, the third-person narration echoes Jeb’s perspective and voice, and although he is not the narrator, the story is told from his perspective. Because Jeb sees himself as a “folksy” and harmless “old next-door neighbor” talking to a young woman, (136) the narration presents him that way. Moshfegh’s use of free indirect discourse subtly primes the reader for Jeb’s clumsy attempts to seduce his neighbor.

In the final third of the story, however, the narration begins to shift to the neighbor’s perspective. Moments after Jeb lies to the neighbor about his nephew’s absence, the narrator describes him in decidedly dark terms: “Jeb’s eyes were like two black shadows when he stood under it. His face looked like a skull” (145). Here, for the first time, the narrative voice acknowledges Jeb’s predatory behavior. Later, after he crudely references his nephew’s plans to seduce her, the narrator contextualizes Jeb within the neighbor’s experience: “Men never ceased to amaze her—sly dogs, all of them, nasty creatures” (146). This shift in narrative voice from Jeb to the neighbor puts a new perspective on this encounter clarifying the neighbor’s reaction. Although Jeb is shocked when the neighbor straddles him, she sees this encounter as one of many similar encounters with similarly predatory men. Jeb thinks he is uniquely suited to seduce this woman; however, her perspective shows us that he is like many other men she has met.