Love Thy Neighbour

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Love thy Neighbour Love thy neighbour is a short story published in 2005 and written by Jennifer Moore. It is a story depicting how a couple’s curiosity quickly evolves into an obsession that’s starts to take control of their lives. The protagonists in the story are a married couple living in an apartment complex in Eastbourne, somewhere in Britain. The husband is the narrator, but we are never given their name, which gives us the feeling that they could be just about anyone, our own neighbours perhaps? In fact they seem to be just about as ordinary or plain as you can get, the husband goes to work every day while his wife spends her time with coffee mornings and attending church committee meetings. In the beginning the husband comes off a bit prejudiced, due to his negative attitude towards the Feng Sui and also his assumption that there might be something wrong with their neighbours, based solely on their wall decorations “… in pride of a place hung a large ceremonial knife (…) I shivered involuntarily. Perhaps these where not the sort of people to be caught spying on”. (P.9 Ll.32-35) The wife on the other hand appears to be a bit more free spirited, taking an interest in Feng Sui and not quite as restrained as her husband “Oh don’t be so wet, say hello…” (P.9 L.39) On the other side of the wall we have a couple that appears to be their complete opposites. Unlike the protagonists we know their names (Angus and Suky) and pretty much everything else going on in their lives, at least within the walls of their living room. From their taste for discordant music, down to their strange, intimate mating rituals. We know that Angus has a temper, and that Suky likes to walk around naked. We know pretty much everything about them because our narrator/ our “porthole” into the story - the husband, along with his wife - knows pretty much everything about them.
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