John Cheever's The Enormous Radio

."..it was that, party that has made me want to see other people. It just...changed everything (196)." The tea party event struck Clare and leads her to remind that she was one of the black cultures and so does now. Clare says Irene is "free", "happy" and "safe" (196). Apparently it is Clare envy toward Irene's status but actually it is Clare's belief that Irene's present status guarantees Irene's happiness and safety.

     Because of Judy Jones’ infidelity, even though he knew it was going to happen, he decides to try to forget about her. As much as he tries, it is impossible for him to forget about Miss Judy Jones. He starts dating Irene Scheerer, her father knew Dexter very well and thought of him as a “Now there’s a boy” type of man. While with Irene, he agreed on that he could not have Judy Jones. He caused himself pain for no reason, he had been hurting himself and Irene by thinking of Miss Jones. Instead of him thinking about Judy Jones as being “priggish” he soon

Yeah but, she wouldn't want the guilt if Irene dies. Yeah but, would her family accept her afterward?

When Irene finally realizes that this woman is Clare, someone who chooses to “pass” and hide all traces of her black heritage, Irene’s opinion of her changes. She no longer wants to be involved with Clare in any way, and “had no desire or intention of making the slightest effort about Tuesday. Nor any other day for that matter. She was through with Clare Kendry.” (p. 31) Irene is appalled that someone can so easily throw away her background just for the sake of gaining privilege over another race. When Clare asks her if she had ever thought of passing, Irene replies, “No. Why should I? You see, Clare, I’ve everything I want.” (p. 28) She is happy with what she has, not even having to give up anything to get there. Or at least that’s what she convinces herself to believe. Irene is again hypocritical in her beliefs. Even when she opposes Clare’s view of passing, she is still very interested in the idea. “The truth was, she was curious. There were things she wanted to ask Clare Kendry. She wished to find out about this hazardous business of ‘passing’…” (p. 24) She even admitted that she held for her “a fascination, strange and compelling.” (p. 28) Irene doesn’t seem to be able to decide if she accepts passing as reasonable. She forces herself to disagree with passing, allowing her to hate Clare for doing it. This shows us that sexuality and race are two matters that conflict with each other, at least in Irene’s opinion. She uses race to

Passing begins with Irene’s recollection of encountering Clare in Chicago a few months before the current events of the story take place. Their first meeting on the roof of the Drayton offers insight into the nature of both characters. Clare’s seductiveness and ability to influence Irene is established when Clare convinces Irene to spend more time with her, leaving Irene wondering “just what had possessed her to make her promise to find time” (22). The fact that Irene is in the process of passing during their first encounter exposes her hypocritical nature, especially when it is revealed throughout the story how much she looks down upon Clare for passing.

Tom’s infidelity in his marriage clearly expresses his views about his wife, Daisy. In seeking an affair, he conveys that Daisy is deficient and not worthy of devotion. Daisy knows of his affairs, but because of the time period and their social class, she is helpless to do anything. As a woman in the 20th century, it would destroy Daisy to divorce Tom, even though the entirety of New York knows about Tom’s affair.

During her shopping trip with her friend, Felise, Irene accidentaly met Jack Bellew. Irene considered warning Clare that Jack might aware of her racial status and possibly Clare’s too. However, Irene told nothing for she was worried that Clare’s divorce might encourage Irene’s husband, Brian, to leave her for Clare. Irene relationship with her husband was not good at that time, and she noted that Brian might like Clare more than friend. On one night, Clare accompanied Irene and Brian to Felise’s party which was held on a top of a building. Clare husband, Jack, suddenly came and shouted at Clare “You’re a nigger, a damned dirty nigger!, and tragically, the story ended with Clare’s death which she fell from an open window of the top of that

After living for years in an awful war that weighed heavily on her soul, I felt despair for Irene’s inability to rejoin her family. Irene then needed a place to go to escape persecution by the Soviet Union for her partisan crimes since her family would be in danger if she looked for them. The irony in her choosing to go to Germany disguised as a Jewish refugee almost made me laugh because of its

Irene yelled and cried the whole time. Her father brought her straight to the doctor, and the doctor said the same thing to them as what they said to Laura Dawn. He diagnosed it as bewitchment.

Clare states, “I’ve often wondered why more colored girls … never ‘passed’ over. It’s such a frightfully easy thing to do. If one’s the type, all that’s needed is a little nerve.” (25). Much like the earlier statement from Irene, blacks have an easier time to pass in white society because that kind of society is always pressured on blacks. White society is like a template on how to live a decent life and many people of color tend to follow it. With a As for Irene, despite her passing color she chooses not to. And in a moment of weakness Irene “was caught between two allegiances, different, yet the same.” (98) the realization of her skin finally struck her, that Irene had twoness. She easily identifies with both, but rather she is tired of the burden of being black. She can receive criticism from both parties and it dwells on her. In any case, she struggles between two worlds of black and white, much like Henry Park in Native Speaker, who struggles between the Korean and American world.

Throughout the book Passing by Nella Larsen, we see an unusual relationship developing between Clare and Irene, which differs from relationships between men and men, and men and women. The two are evidently envious and catty towards each other, but what is not plainly visible about this jealous, malicious relationship, is that it generates an erotic attraction between the women. These two women are attracted to each other not by love, but by hatred, a type of relationship that completely deviates from the standard. When Brian, Irene’s husband, grows aware of this attraction and its origins, it draws him away from Irene, right into Clare’s hands, not because of Irene’s reason that he wants to learn of “the other” perspective, but because he’s

Irene wants to control her relationship with Clare and seems frustrated as she loses control when Clare is around. One occasion, Irene tries hard not to accept Clare’s invitation to meet her but ends up going. Later, Irene’s anger goes away just by the power of Clare’s smile, "And under her potent smile a part of Irene's annoyance with herself fled”. This constant loose of power makes Irene vulnerable and the possible affair between Clare and Brian gives Irene a motive for hating her instead of admitting her lesbianism and losing the life she has worked so hard to build.

Richard Rupp asserts that the movement "From external to internal sorrow is only a short, inevitable step" (109). This step of internalizing the sorrow occurs in several different situations. The first one occurs when the Westcotts are returning from the dinner party. Irene says "They’re really such nice people, aren’t they? They have such nice faces. Actually, they’re so much nicer than a lot of the people we know" (822). Irene is beginning to recognize that the people they know have deceiving faces and are full of sorrow; however, the full recognition that these nice people, along with her own family, are hiding secrets behind innocent faces as well, has not been internalized quite yet. The second situation involves the discussion between Irene and Jim. Irene says to Jim "Life is too terrible, too sordid and awful. But we’ve never been like that, have we, darling? Have we? I mean, we’ve always been good and decent and loving to one

Jim becomes so upset with Irene’s obsession that he unleashes his anger by explaining to her why she is so caught up in the enormous radio. He

Even though in the beginning of the story the Westcotts’ old radio is outdated and constantly malfunctioning, it has the same innocence and simplicity as the couple. The radio, being "an old instrument" (817), and the couple, resembling "statistical reports in college alumni bulletins" (817), are both average and