In
John Cheever’s classic story “The Enormous Radio”, technology is used as a
medium to eavesdrop on others. Jim and Irene Wescott get a radio that can hear
the goings-on in the other apartments in their building. She is more concerned
about other people’s problems and not addressing her own.
Cheever starts off by introducing us
to the Wescotts, Jim and Irene. They have two kids and live in on the 12th
floor of an apartment building near Sutton Place. They are a normal couple
except for their love for music. This love for music is what leads them to buy
a new radio. At first, Irene is the only one that hears the other apartments
and the sound isn’t clear. Jim doesn’t believe her that the radio hears the
other apartments. He has a radio repair man come to the house and fix the
radio. Now the sound of the other apartments comes in very clear and Irene
becomes obsessed with the goings-on in the other apartments. Soon thereafter,
they are listening to the other apartments nonstop.
One night when Jim comes home from work, Irene tells him to go to
one of neighbor’s houses because there is a violent domestic dispute going on.
He storms into the living room and slams the radio off. He tells her to stop
listening to the neighbors. Irene asks him not to fight with her. She names all
of the horrible things that are happening to the people around them. This is
the first sign that Irene is aware of the problems that are under the surface
of the Wescott’s marriage.
The next night at supper they begin to argue about Irene’s spending
habits. Cheever really delves into the idea that Irene is blocking out her own
problems by judging others’ by their issues. Jim says that Irene is acting as
if there is nothing wrong in their marriage and at the same time pointing out
the neighbors’ faults. He cites her abortion, her stealing, and how she made
another woman’s life awful.
Cheever shows Irene as someone who is very concerned with what her
neighbors are doing and how to correct their behaviors instead of addressing
some of the things that she has done and needs to work out. The main theme of
this story is that people that judge others for their actions often have
something that they are ignoring that needs to be dealt with.
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