46 pages • 1 hour read
The Woman in the Window
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Sunday, October 24”
The novel opens as the narrator and protagonist, Dr. Anna Fox, is engaged in an act of spying on her new neighbors in number 212 through the window of her brownstone in New York City. Dr. John Miller and his much younger wife have been living in their new home for eight weeks, and already, Mrs. Miller is having an affair with their contractor. Anna has also learned that Dr. Miller is a successful psychotherapist. Dr. Miller’s wife practices yoga regularly and enjoys an alcoholic drink in the afternoon, just like Anna does. Anna, a lover of classic American film noir, compares Mrs. Miller to Rita Hayworth.
As his wife and her lover undress, Anna notices that Dr. Miller is quickly approaching his home on foot. Anna uses the zoom lens on her camera to observe him more closely, as “Rita and the contractor are speedily disrobing” (4). Anna zooms in and photographs Mrs. Miller’s face as she hears her husband unlock the door; she and the contractor quickly get dressed as Dr. Miller’s briefcase opens suddenly, forcing him to gather his papers as they fly about the sidewalk and giving Mrs. Miller and the contractor sufficient time to compose themselves. As Anna watches, they greet Dr. Miller at the front door, and he appears to suspect nothing. Anna is disappointed.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Monday, October 25”
Anna speaks to her daughter Olivia over the phone and tells Olivia about another set of new neighbors, a family who are moving into number 207, “across the park” (8). She reminds Olivia to mind her manners while on the phone with her mother. Olivia suggests that Anna say hello to the new neighbors, and Anna changes the subject. Anna asks her daughter if she is happy and if she misses Punch, their cat; Olivia reassures her mother as Ed, Anna’s husband and Olivia’s father, gets on the call. Ed also encourages Anna to befriend the new neighbors, which irritates Anna, and she finishes her glass of wine in one gulp. She tells Ed that she misses him and Olivia, but that he reminds her that “too much contact isn’t healthy” (10). As Anna hangs up the phone, she decides to have more wine before heading to bed.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Tuesday, October 26”
Anna reflects on the fact that, one year earlier, before Ed and Olivia left, she and Ed had decided to sell their house and move to Lenox Hill. She remembers the listing that detailed the four floors of their house and the rooms on each of the four floors as well as the patio and basement, which has its own separate entrance. Ed had used the basement as his workspace before he left. She decides she will speak with Ed and Olivia again the following day.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Wednesday, October 27”
A tall and slender teenager with blond hair leaves number 207 as Anna drinks wine. She goes upstairs to her desk and picks up her camera, through which she spies on the teenager’s father while he watches television. From her desk, Anna can see into their kitchen, “a second-floor parlor” (16), and a bedroom on the third floor. Anna wonders about the teenager’s mother, who has not yet made an appearance the previous Monday.
David, Anna’s tenant of two months, rings the doorbell, interrupting her online chess game. She answers the door, noticing his handsome features. He tells her that he is going to Brooklyn for the night and wants to make sure that she does not need anything before he goes. She jokingly reminds him that he can come into her house via the basement door, but he does not smile or laugh in response.
After David goes, Anna looks at her reflection in the mirror and takes an inventory of her physical features. She is critical of her appearance and decides to clip her toenails.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Thursday, October 28”
According to the deed of sale, Anna’s new neighbors are Alistair Russell and his wife Jane. Their house is one of five townhouses that Anna can see from the windows of her own home; Henry and Lisa Wasserman, an unfriendly couple, live in one, and the Gray family live in another. The Takeda family, whose son is a cellist, live in another. The last brownstone is “a vacant double-wide” (21), uninhabited for the last two years. Anna is not friends with any of her neighbors. St. Dymphna’s, once a Catholic school, is directly next-door to Anna’s house, and a “tiny” park with a brick path is also close by. Just beyond the park is number 207, where the Russell family now resides.
Anna’s physical therapist, named Bina, listens to Anna talk about her new neighbors during their weekly session. Bina has never heard of the actress Jane Russell, which shocks Anna, so Bina is unable to appreciate the coincidence of Anna’s neighbor’s name. Anna and Bina discuss dating during their sessions; Anna reveals that she had briefly joined Tinder but deleted her account as soon as she saw David’s profile on the app.
Anna wonders about her neighbor Jane Russell, who does not appear to resemble “the original” Jane Russell; she has not seen Jane since the day they first moved in, when Anna caught a glimpse of a woman from afar, but she notes that Jane’s husband is “on permanent display in his house” (23).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Friday, October 29”
Today, Anna plans to have her French lesson and to watch Les Diaboliques. Before these activities, she takes her medication and logs on to a website called the Agora, where agoraphobes meet and chat online. Anna describes what it means to be agoraphobic, which is a term that includes several kinds of anxiety disorders that originate in different kinds of experiences. Anna is a child psychologist, but she has not worked in nearly a year, and she misses her patients; she feels a unique responsibility to the members of the Agora community who seek her support specifically, knowing that she has professional expertise in the field. Anna’s handle on the website is thedoctorisin.
Anna sips on her wine as she chats with Sally4th, who lives in Perth; Sally’s agoraphobia developed after she was sexually assaulted. Anna asks Sally about her medication, and they discuss side effects that are familiar to Anna because her own medication causes similar symptoms. During this chat, Anna sees another chat pop up on her computer screen; this message is from a man named Andrew, whom Anna met on a website for fans of classic film. Andrew is writing to ask Anna to see a film with him the following weekend, and Anna realizes that he does not yet understand that she is “unavailable.”
Anna returns to her chat with Sally, telling Sally that Anna’s medications are causing Anna to sleep more than usual, and Anna thinks to herself that she should tell Dr. Fielding, her psychiatrist, about this side effect of her medication. As Anna signs off with Sally, her French tutor calls Anna via Skype.
As Anna watches the sand in her hourglass pile, she realizes that she has not left her house in nearly a year, except for the “[f]ive times in eight weeks I’ve managed to venture outside, out back, into the garden” (31), equipped with an umbrella. Dr. Fielding has instructed Anna to perceive the umbrella as her “secret weapon,” but Anna is impatient with this suggestion. She walks down her steps and across several yards of her lawn before she feels panicked.
Chapters 1-6 Analysis
The opening chapters of the novel take place over several days, establishing the linear narrative form that makes up the entirety of the novel, which takes place over three weeks. Anna’s daily observations keep the plot moving forward as the reader grows intimate with Anna’s routines and habits. Within this framework, the reader is able to follow Anna’s movements from morning till night, taking the note of when she has her first drink and how often she uses her camera to spy on her neighbors.
This section establishes that Anna is physically and psychologically vulnerable, and suspense builds as the reader learns that Anna has been somehow traumatized; descriptions of the event that caused her the trauma are withheld, which enhances the thriller effect of the novel.
This section also introduces most of the major characters involved in the events of the plot, as well as the physical locations of their places of residence. As the protagonist of the novel, the character of Anna is in the limelight, and her unreliability as a narrator is firmly established as her tendency to mix wine and prescription drugs becomes obvious to the reader, who is able to observe her daily machinations through her reporting of her days. As well, Anna’s diagnosis of agoraphobia reveals that she is prone to panic attacks; these panic attacks may seem like overreactions to people who do not understand the complex nature of anxiety disorders, which may also contribute to the sense that Anna might be prone to melodrama.
The motif of classic films appears in these early chapters, and Anna’s frequent mention of the black and white movies adds atmosphere to the novel. Here, Mallory is drawing the comparison to the Hitchcock film, Rear Window, which has a plot that closely parallels The Woman in the Window.
Readers familiar with the films will recognize the names of stars like Rita Hayworth and Jane Russell, both of whom Anna mentions. As well, Anna’s frequent viewing of these films draw attention to the whiffs of danger and sexual tension that foreshadow later violence, both in the films she watches and in the novel itself. As well, the reader meets Anna when she describes a couple committing adultery; Anna’s mentions of sultry actresses, the description of Anna’s tenant David’s alluring qualities, and the absence of a husband contribute to the sense of vulnerability that surrounds Anna, who lives alone with her cat, Punch.
Unlock all 46 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: