Perception

Oates, Cheever, and Nabokov suggest perhaps we create our own reality.
In each of their stories, a character is desperate to live in the their own falsely constructed reality - whether conscious of the decision of not. It is an escape, and certainly helpful to a point as a coping mechanism. But as we see with Ned, his disillusionment of his problems skewed his perception of time to a point where he doesn't know anyone, and he doesn't know himself. The petty issues of social hierarchy seem irrelevant at this point when we learn of his marital and money problems, but what's interesting is that Neddy seems almost more distressed about the bartender snubbing him. He seems disinterested when the Hallorans mention his misfortunes, too involved in his grand adventure to give it more thought.

Through Connie, Oates gave us a sense of surrealism in her descriptions of Arnold Friend. Something's not quite right, she can tell; it's just on the edge of her sense. Little things, like angled boots and out of date slang and a too bright smile slither through her subconscious; enough to give her a sense of unease, but not enough to shift her view of the world. He's just another boy, and she knows all about how to handle them, the games to play. Easy.

The unnamed son in "Signs and Symbols" takes a different direction. Instead of focusing on social expectations, metal illness is touched upon. Paranoid though he might be, spies hiding in shadows and malevolent observers are the son's perception of his reality. The brain is a tricky thing, because once you have an obsession, its a slippery slope until it infects your every thought and becomes an integral part of yourself.

And what are we if not what we believe?