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"I Live With You" by Carol Emshwiller: the Captivating Capture of Identity


“Unsettling” is how I’d describe Carol Emshwiller’s short story “I Live With You,” although it is still captivating. It follows a shadow-like being who impersonates and sneaks into the house of a woman named Nora with intent to heavily mess with her life. At first, this doppelganger keeps their presence a secret, but as soon as suspicions arise, they decide to have a little fun. Moving things around, leaving out trash, stealing and replacing clothes, the doppelganger plagues Nora’s house like a ghost. In fact, the imposter even goes as as far as inviting a man over and trying to both hook up with him as well as get Nora some action. Of course, this plan turns sour quickly and the doppelganger leaves Nora, who has changed into a more confident and assertive woman because of her ordeal. “I Live With You” is intriguing and puts you on edge, and the concept really makes you think.

I found it interesting how Nora tried to convince herself that nothing was going on, and when things got too obvious to deny, she never sought help. True, she may have not wanted to sound crazy, but I would have been too freaked out to let it slide. I’d set up a camera, check everywhere thoroughly, and take no nonsense from the shadow of a person.

As a person who highly values privacy, the idea of this kind of doppelganger is frightening. To have your identity stolen, messed with, and taken out from under you is insane. I felt so bad for Nora. I wanted to be able to reach into the story and confront the doppelganger, out them to Nora and chase them away. When first reading the story, I thought the imposter was a metaphor or a riddle. With a beginning like, “I live in your house and you don't know it. I nibble at your food. You wonder where it went ... where your pencils and pens go,” I was trying to pin what the narrator was. Time? Age? Then, as I kept reading, I learned that this was no riddle. This “being” was as real as Nora, but much more twisted in the mind. There’s a chance that the imposter was, in fact, a symbol, but I believe that they act more as a literal instigator. They cause Nora to come out of her shell, to stop being a shadow herself and change for the better. So, in the end it could be said that Nora had a hard-earned happy ending. She wasn’t necessarily happy herself, but her life going forward will be much more in her own hands.

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