“The Furnished Room” takes place in the Lower West Side of New York City at the turn of the 20th century. This part of the city is so old and so crowded that thousands of people have lived in its houses; the story pauses on this fact and extrapolates that each house “should have a thousand stories to tell.” The narrator acknowledges that many of these stories would not be interesting, but that does not make them unimportant. He likens these stories to ghosts, which speaks to their significance: even if a ghost can’t be seen, it refuses to be forgotten. The language of ghosts resonates with the later description of the furnished room as “haunted”––and if stories are ghosts, the furnished room is full of them. Each guest who stayed in the furnished room has left a mark, from the children who left fingerprints on the wall to the person who carved the name Marie across the mirror. The narrator grants time and attention to the remnants—effectively, the memories—of each tenant; in this way, the lengthy and detailed description of the furnished room can be taken as a sign of respect for all the previous residents the description takes into account.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Individual Stories and Memory ThemeTracker
Individual Stories and Memory Quotes in The Furnished Room
It seemed that the succession of dwellers in the furnished room had turned in fury –– perhaps tempted beyond forbearance by its garish coldness –– and wreaked upon it their passions. The furniture was chipped and bruised [...]. Each plank in the floor owned its particular cant and shriek as from a separate and individual agony. It seemed incredible that all this malice and injury had been wrought upon the room by those who had called it for a time their home; and yet it may have been the cheated home instinct surviving blindly, the resentful rage at false household gods that had kindled their wrath. A hut that is our own we can sweep and adorn and cherish.
He ran from the haunted room downstairs and to a door that showed a crack of light. She came out to his knock. He smothered his excitement as best he could.
