The Stories of John Cheever

Exposing Pain in The Enormous Radio       In John Cheever’s short story, "The Enormous Radio," Jim and Irene Westcott are presented as average, middle-class Americans with hopes and dreams just like everyone else. They are described as "the kind of people who seem to strike that satisfactory average of income, endeavor, and respectability" (Cheever 817). Jim and Irene thought they were the epitome of the perfect American family that was free from trouble and worry. The only way that they differed

In The Enormous Radio by John Cheever the themes of privacy, secrecy, obsession, doubt, change and control play a large role in the story. The story is set in an apartment building in 1950s New York the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed, omniscient narrator and has a suspenseful mood. Cheever succeeding in drawing the reader further into the story, right to the end, till it reaches a climax. Irene considers the large radio to be ugly, but Cheever telling the reader that Irene

In his story, The Swimmer, John Cheever does a clever job engaging the reader in understanding the complexity and change in Ned Merrill’s life circumstances through his travels to various pools. It is implied that Ned was once successful and had everything. He had a wife, named Lucinda, and children. He had a beautiful home and a circle of friends. It seemed like he had it all. However, his travel through pools and time, show the reader that Ned’s life is not all that it seems. At the time that

for the child to prepare them to be responsible adults. But some parent does not understand that things that they do and say may affect a child mentally and physically, which reflex’s in a child’s behavior. In the short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “Reunion” by John Cheever clearly shows examples of how a parent can affect a child's behavior. In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, it is tough for the girl to express herself to her mother without having both their values clash against each other. The

tragedy-stricken story showing how some people abuse authority. Throughout the story, Miller uses authority to show how they utilize it in court to get what they want, and to also show that it doesn’t always end up working out in their favor. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the story goes through the dark and historical parts of the Salem witch trials using a strong sense of authority. In the story, certain characters wield a significant amount of authority. For example, Abigail, Reverend Parris, and John Proctor

appendix in the book that was not shown in the movie. In the story, there was an appendix at the back of the book, talking about a conversation between John and Abigail. John was informing Abigail that any past relations, were ending between them. He was going to his wife’s side and staying there. She claimed he was a hypocrite, and was siding with the other “hypocrites” in Salem. In the presentation of The Crucible it was not there at all. John did not travel to Abigail’s home in the night, nor did he

John Cheever and F. Scott Fitzgerald are both 20th century writers whose story’s thematically reflected the despair and the emptiness of life. In both story’s “The Swimmer” and “Babylon Revisited” the main characters undergo similar problems, although they are presented differently in each story. The subject matter of both stories, pertain to the ultimate downfall of a man. “The Swimmer”, conveys the story of a man who swims his way into reality. He at first is very ignorant to his situation; however

The quote from John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” shows how the protagonist, Neddy, fails to realize and accept the fact of reality, and only tries to escape from it. As the narrator indicates that Neddie is actually incapable of realizing the rudeness from the caterer’s barkeep and the mistress, readers might presume that Cheever is actually using these two characters to present the issue of social class and love as both are inevitably connected with the reality that the protagonist couldn’t dare to face

In the short story by John Cheever called "The Enormous Radio" it begins with Jim and Irene Westcotts appearing like the perfect American family. Cheever describes them as "the kind of people who seem to strike that satisfactory average of income, endeavor, and respectability" (Cheever 1). What is ironic about this story is the Westcotts are far from being the perfect family and the community they try to conform to is just as imperfect as the Westcotts themselves. A way the Westcotts try to live

stray; a young girl Gertrude, literally characterised as a stray (Cheever 335); and lastly, Clayton Thomas, the only fatherless boy in Shady Hill. Being a dog, Jupiter is an unconscious agent: With his behaviour he unintentionally disrupts the presentability of the place he happens to live in. Obviously, he does not protest against it out of conviction: He enjoys