The Comfort Of Strangers Analysis

This excerpt from The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan focuses on Robert, a retrospective narrator who reflects on when he told on his sisters for playing dress-up with their mother’s things. He spends the day alone with them and watches their looks transform through the use of clothes and makeup, which he sees as a fascinating phenomenon in which his sisters transform into women. He carefully pinpoints every single aspect of their process as well as their cleanup, and later exposes their actions to their father at dinner. Robert’s young age causes him to escalate both the act of dressing up as well as their father’s anticipated reaction. The descriptive narrative in the excerpt contributes to the generated tension and the real tension that

Robert is captivated as his sisters start using their mother’s makeup and clothes. He watches them as they “[paint] their fingernails and [wave them in the air to dry” (4) The detailed imagery Robert describes shows how enthralled he is by a simple act. He focuses their application of makeup as well as when they put on their mother’s clothing. After they are finished he describes them as “two very beautiful women” (7). The transformative nature of his description shows the shock caused by his naivety. Furthermore, he is so fascinated by their new look that “everywhere they [go he] follows, looking at them all the time, just looking” (10-11). He comes to the conclusion that “these [are] not [his] sisters, these [are] American film stars” (12). Robert goes as far as to say that his own sisters are no longer in front of him, movie stars are. After his sisters take off the clothes and the makeup, the hypnotic effect of the transformation wears off. Robert expresses that “suddenly the beautiful women {became his] sisters again, tall schoolgirls” (18-19). This revelation contrasts his previous notion that his sisters were film stars because it is instantaneous, and the other one required more of a process. Robert realizes that the makeover merely provided a mask for his sisters, but it wasn’t who they truly

At dinner Robert describes that he feels “[his] father staring at [him] … [so he] glance[s]” up at him (21). The contrast between the words “stare” and “glance” show that Robert is timid and small around his father and has to look up to him. Robert believes his father “looking through [his’ eyes, deep into [his] mind” (21-22). Robert’s interpretation contributes to the all-knowing view that he has of his father because he actually believes that he can see into his brain. Robert intensely describes the act of his father “slowly [putting] down his knife and fork [and chewing and swallowing] everything in his mouth.” (22-23). By distinguishing every single movement his father makes, Robert is able to slow down time which creates a sense of stress and nervous anticipation. When Robert’s father asks him what he was doing all afternoon, Robert admits that he “believed he knew everything, like God, [and that] he was testing [him] to find out if [he] was worthy enough to tell the truth [and that] there was no point in lying” (24-25). The godly view Robert has of his father shows that he used to worship him and saw him as all-knowing. Furthermore, Robert’s naivety and young age caused him to seek approval from his domineering father. As Robert tells on his sisters they first “laughed and denied what [he] was