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The Crazy Radio Research Paper

Decent Essays

Kaitlyn Overstreet
Mrs. Buckley
English III
13 April 2017
The Crazy Radio Why can Irene hear the conversations going on throughout her building, but no one can hear her through the radio? “The Enormous Radio,” by John Cheever was set shortly after World War II. Irene and Jim Westcott love listening to music, and one day their radio got ruined and Jim had to go buy a new one. The radio has something wrong with it, it allows them to hear other conversations. “The Enormous Radio” made it seem that other people could hear the people in the building’s conversations, but it was Irene’s mental instability. When the Westcott’s favorite radio broke, Jim went out and bought another one as a surprised for his wife, Irene. When the new radio arrived, …show more content…

Cheever used Irene to expose the American life and comforts of the middle class life, but it cannot protect the Westcott’s against the evil from within themselves, or in the world around them (The Enormous Radio 1-2). The insanity of Irene has caused for her marriage to suffer to where it can’t be fixed. She became dependent on the radio to tell the gossip that was going on in the building that her insanity got the better of her, and when she turned on the radio at the end of the story when she turned on the radio she could no longer hear the conversations. This shows that if someone gets too involved into something, that insanity can be lost if it is taken too far. Works Cited
“The Enormous Radio.” Recommended Reading: 500 Classics Reviewed, June 1995, pp. 1. EBSCOhost, doi: 103331RRR11360089900135. Accessed: 22 March 2017.
Cheever, John. “‘The Enormous Radio.’” “The Enormous Radio,” english307formsofmodernshortstory.web.unc.edu/files/2014/03/enormous_radio-by-John-Cheever.pdf. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Morace, Robert A. “The Enormous Radio.” Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition, September 2006, pp. 1. EBSCOhost, doi: 103331MSA15579830000556. Accessed: 22 March 2017.
Parsell, David B. “The Enormous

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