Emshwiller's short story, "I Live with You" focuses on an average woman's life through the eyes of a stranger inhabiting her home. The creature that inhabits the home is never really defined or properly described, so there is a lot of speculation about their identity. Although it does refer to itself as a person, I never pictured it as a human but more as a creepy, bipedal, furry animal. Actually, the first thing that came into my head was a human-like sloth slinking around the house. Whatever the unwelcome guest is, it is a real nuisance due to the antics it pulls on the tenant.
The story is very much a commentary on the way women view the world around them. As a woman, I know that many of us feel a strong paranoia in our day to day lives due to the patriarchal society we live in. Women are taught to from a young age to be weary of men, to not walk alone at night, to not wear revealing clothes. Yet, we are also taught to be polite and "ladylike" (whatever that means), attractive yet modest, approachable yet on guard. Since I was the age of thirteen, I have personally dealt with one too many strange, older men catcalling me or trying to pick me up. So, I am usually quite nervous when out and about alone, especially at night time. I constantly feel like I'm under surveillance and take measures to try and protect myself from a danger I can't even see.
The woman in "I Live With You" experiences these same fears as she notices her possessions moving around the house, food she never ate left on the counter, and even her whole wardrobe changed. It is terrifying to think that even your own home, the one place you should be able to unwind and feel safe, could become compromised. The woman becomes so freaked out over the occurrences happening in her house that she goes so far as to put a deadbolt on the inside of her room out of pure fear. It is upsetting that she feels she has to confine herself to a singular room on her own property in order to be protected. The sad reality is that thousands of women across the globe face this same paranoia.
The creature in the house likes to pretend that it is being helpful, but I see them as a representation of the impact of the patriarchy. The woman is forced to change her clothing style, forced to invite a strange man into her house, forced to change her routine because of her fear. Women are manipulated into feeling like they need to change their lives to please men or society at the expense of their own wants and happiness. What someone wants for another persons life is not necessarily what that person wants. The woman in the story may have seemed lonely or 'boring', but that doesn't mean she wasn't happy. The creature took it upon themselves to haunt this woman's life, making her think she was crazy and being stalked, and then forced changes onto her that she never asked for. Clearly this story has a strong focus on the way that women's actions and demeanor are manipulated by the society in which they live that is predominately patriarchal.
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