afraid to commit to women or are in unhappy relationships with them. Jeff is afraid to commit to marriage. He thinks all women want is a ônew dress, a lobster dinner, and the latest scandal,ö but he is proven wrong (Hitchcock 1954). JeffÆs inhibitions over committing to marriage are in contrast to the female troubles suffered by Jack Torrance. Jack has an antagonistic and abusive relationship with his wife. When the bartender he imagines informs him women are something you can neither live with or without, Jack replies ôWords of wisdomàwords of wisdomö (King 1977). Such common characters and universal situations create greater empathy with the predicaments of Hitchcock and King characters, thereby adding to our suspense and tension when reading or viewing their experiences.
In Rear Window, both the environment of the character and his predicament increase our relation to him. As DeRosa (2001) argues in Writing With Hitchcock, ôThe story [Rear Window] is rich in the vivid details of everyday life and the protagonist-witness has no emotional connection to the suspected killer.ö While King and Hitchcock both people their stories with everymen and everyday situations, Hitchcock has more of a tendency to preoccupy himself with social classes King seldom dwells on as main characters. In To Catch A Thief, surely few of us imagine being the debonair and suave international jewel thief, John Robie. Few others could relate to the upper echelon social life of Frances Stevens. However, there are always gritty details of everyday life and few punches pulled in HitchcockÆs writing with respect to the ugly, brutal, macabre, or evil aspects of reality. Even in this high-class society Hitchcock adds dialogue that reveals the seamier side of life and human nature. At one point, one guest comments on the
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