Exposing Pain in The Enormous Radio Essay examples -- Enormous Radio E

Exposing Pain in The Enormous Radio In John Cheevers short story, The Enormous Radio, Jim and Irene Westcott ar presented as average, middle-class Ameri freighters with hopes and dreams just like everyone else. They ar described as the kind of people who seem to strike that satisfactory average of income, endeavor, and respectability (Cheever 817). Jim and Irene vox populi they were the epitome of the perfect American family that was free from trouble and worry. The only way that they differed from their friends and neighbors was a deep passion for serious music. This passion, through the enormous radio, brought to their attention the actualisation that they had just as many problems as the next family. Their reaction to the radio argues the fact that they were not perfect and did not have a worry-free life. The first signaling that the radio was going to cause a problem was its physical appearance. Irene abhorred the radio She was struck at once with the physical ugliness of the large gumwood console (Cheever 817). The radio stuck out like a sore thumb in Irenes perfectly arranged living room. The radios appearance resembled what it would at last do, bring a new ugliness into the perfectly arranged lives of the Westcotts (Giordano 56). When the Westcotts first realize that they had possession of an eavesdropping machine, Irene becomes extremely paranoid about whether or not they are being overheard too, like they have something to hide. Irene quickly becomes obsessed with listening to others conversations, as Nathan Giordano points out it was like tuning into a soap opera on tv set (56). The Westcotts would stay up late at night to listen to others conversations some nights they went to bed weak wit... ...indeed have problems and that turning a blind eye to her problems doesnt help solve them (Smith 59). The enormous radio was a reality check for Irene. It was a lesson that all she can do is be the best person she can and that denial only represses guilt for a short time. Whether Irene understands this is uncertain, but the reader finally realizes that even the average American family may have problems that must be worked through, not forgotten. Works Cited Cheever, John. The Enormous Radio. The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Sylvan Barnet. New York HarperCollins, 1991. 817-824. Giordano, Nathan. Illusions, Delusions. Ode to Friendship & Other Essays. Ed. Connie Bellamy Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1996. 55-58. Smith, TaVeta. The Perfect Facade. Ode to Friendship & Other Essays. Ed. Connie Bellamy Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1996. 58-59.