John Cheever's "The Five-Forty-Eight" is the story of a businessman named Blake who is confronted by his former secretary, the mentally-ill Miss Dent. The entire story is from Blake's perspective, and quickly it becomes apparent that Blake is a flawed character; he drinks, he has a clear disdain for women, and he keeps those around him at a distance. However, it is this distance he creates that causes Blake to have a very distorted perception of reality; one that is perhaps more twisted than the ill Miss Dent.
When Blake first notices Miss Dent outside of his office building one evening, he does not seem to even remember her name. Although he is immediately nervous and afraid as he heads to the train that will take him home from the city, he comforts himself by pondering that "he was an insignificant man" and that he "knew no secrets of consequence" that might lead Miss Dent to do him any harm (par. 4). However, as he takes a moment to order a drink at a bar, Blake begins to recall their past interactions and we learn this may not be the case. He remembers hiring her, and how he seemed to "recognize a peculiar feeling of deprivation" (par. 6). It's this same feeling of deprivation perhaps Blake recognizes within himself. Miss Dent admits that prior to Blake hiring her, she has been mentally ill and hospitalized for several months. Through Blake's perception of those on the train, it quickly becomes apparent that he also has been isolated from those around him.
Blake notices his neighbor, who clearly does not care from him. He recounts how the Watkins house is dilapidated and rundown, and seems disdainful that they only rent, not buy. He recalls how his son became friends with the neighbors son, and soon began staying the night and all but moving in next door. Rather than speak with his son, he addresses Mr. Watkins. This is an early sign that Blake is oblivious to what is really occurring in his life. In all actuality, his son probably preferred staying with the Watkins's. But Blake perceives it differently, unaware of whatever strife most likely exists between him and his own son.
Miss Dent ends up following Blake to the train, and as she sits down next to him she makes him aware that she has a gun in her pocketbook and would like to speak with Blake. To himself, Blake has already considered his past relationship with her. We learn that he hired her, one night he asked her for a drink and they ended up at her apartment. They proceed to have a one-night-stand, and Blake considers if there will be any consequences from this night. He believes nothing negative will come from her, but that "her diffidence...promised to protect him of that" (par. 8.) Put in another way, because Miss Dent is shy and modest, he believes there is no way she would do anything harmful. The next day Blake promptly asks personnel to fire her while she is out to lunch. He states that she came by the next day, and he refused to see her; after that, he says he never saw her again.
Of course, that is up until this day on the train. As Miss Dent begins talking to Blake, it becomes apparent that Blake's perception is once again inaccurate. Miss Dent states that she went to his office "every day for three weeks" in an attempt to speak with him (par. 24). From that admission and the fact that she is confidently talking to him now on the train, it seems that Blake's perception of her as shy and weak is incorrect. Blake waits for someone to notice he is being held at gunpoint, but alas, no one does. This is probably due in part to Blake's constant avoidance of those around him. He tries to "summon the calculation self-deceptions with which he sometimes cheered himself" which is the first time Blake admits how he looks at the world is incorrect.
Eventually Miss Dent gets off at Blake's stop in Shady Hill with him. She remarks that the neighborhood is much more run-down and shabby than she had imagined. She then forces Blake to his knees, and then to the ground, in an effort to belittle him, and perhaps make him feel similar to how he had made her feel; that is to say she wanted him to feel helpless and ashamed. She speaks her mind when she says "'I'm better than you, and I shouldn't wast my time or spoil my life like this'" (par. 39). This statement is much closer to reality than Blake's own perception. Once she has made him weep, she walks away to get back on the train. Blake looks around, and as he watches her, he sees her as "small, common, harmless" (par. 40). Immediately past danger, Blake reverts back to his oblivious mindset. He simply dusts off his hat and walks home, content that he is safe, without further contemplation of his reality.
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