The Wife Upstairs

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Isolation is a key idea throughout The Wife Upstairs. McFadden explores two types of isolation: emotional and physical. Emotional isolation plays a role in the character dynamics between Sylvia, Adam, and Victoria. Sylvia feels empathy at first for Adam’s perceived isolation, even when Adam starts making romantic advances toward her. However, because of her role as Victoria’s caregiver, Sylvia rejects him, thinking about the ethics of the situation: “I get that he feels lonely. […] Victoria isn’t capable of even a simple conversation anymore. And I can see why he feels having sex with her would be an ethical gray area. But me having sex with him while he’s still married to her? That’s not a gray area” (179). Sylvia exhibits empathy for Adam’s situation, understanding the degree to which his role as Victoria’s caregiver isolates him.

However, Sylvia’s perception of Adam’s emotional isolation is based on his deception. He is not abstaining from intimacy with Victoria because of his ethical concerns but because he hates her and tried to kill her. Victoria is physically isolated from those who could help her because of Adam, who murdered