The Enormous Radio

A detailed Summary of The Enormous Radio

"But we've never been like that, have we darling? Have we? (TER)

One of the interesting aspects of John Cheever's "The Enormous Radio" is his characterization. Cheever is known for characters who are lonely, and pretend that their lives are happy when they are really not. This story is about an average married couple, Irene and Jim Westcott, who spend a good deal of time listening to music on the radio. One day Jim buys a new radio to replace their broken one that is "unpredictable, and beyond repair." With the new radio Irene feels "intruded" upon. Because of the radio's physical ugliness, it didn't go with her "intimate possessions" in her living room. This was no ordinary radio. This radio would pick up noises and conversations throughput their apartment building. Irene listens for hours to the conversations of her neighbors upstairs and begins to wonder if they can hear her, and if her relationship with Jim is the same as theirs. Irene and Jim Westcott are typical Cheever characters. In "The Enormous Radio", the author describes his characters as being more concerned with appearance then reality: Irene is a self-centered young woman who is overly concerned with how people view her; Jim is a hard-working young man wh

Jim Westcott, on the other hand, is a loyal hard working man who tries to support a lifestyle that exceeds their income. Jim's main goal in life at this time is to do what ever he can to make Irene happy. "He promised her a new radio." He put off the rest of his yearly spending to buy her a radio. "I wanted to give you something that you'd enjoy." When Jim came home one evening "she seemed sad and vague, and he brought her a drink." All the love and nurturing he gives Irene has caught up with him, Jim is tired "Jim was too tired to make even a pretense of sociability." This shows how Jim comforts her to keep a smile on her face. Jim is a hard working husband and is willing to keep working hard for Irene "four hundred dollars is a good deal more than I can afford."

o tries to support a lifestyle that exceeds their income. With the help of "The Enormous Radio", Jim confronts Irene with the reality of who she is.

John Cheever has described his characters as being more concerned with appearance than reality. He describes his characters in this story as being typical Cheever characters.

However by the end of the story Irene and Jim have changed. With the help of "The Enormous Radio", Jim confronts Irene with the reality of who she is. At the beginning Irene is pleasant, and she feels bad for the people upstairs who are fighting. She at first feels secure with herself. As the story progresses she becomes tense. She starts to become uneasy with the radio. What first strikes her is the physical ugliness of

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Approximate Word count = 1037
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English