John Cheever Is Perhaps One

John Cheever is perhaps one of the most formidable American Short story writers. His works have a reflective and attitudinal tone that are consistent with the characters and places that are presented through his work. The purpose of this discussion is to explore the major themes that are seen throughout his various works.

Social Class/Setting

One of the major themes of his work is the development of a story in which WASPs are the primary characters (Gamble). Most of his short stores take place in the suburbs of New England. This particular region was probably most familiar to Cheever because he was born in Massachusetts. Like other writers whose works are set in specific regions, Cheever's work reflects the values he saw as most evident in New England.

Cheever's portrait of New England is most evident in the novel, The Wapshot Chronicles. In this particular novel, Cheever explores the town of St., Botolphs. The town is a fledgling New England Seaport.

the one spot on earth from which he can define his values. It is Leander Wapshot who will have to be the carrier, if there is to be a carrier, of the principles of New En- gland individualism. & #8230; Eccentricity abounds in St. Botolphs but in no case does it have the potential to turn into destructive grotesqueness. The small-town types that Cheever describes are all harmless enough. (Chesnick, 535)

Indeed throughout the novel the Cheever expresses what he perceives to be the values of New England. In fact it seems that the fact that the town is a fledgling seaport seems to bring these values to the forefront in a way that is more apparent.

Throughout the novel, Cheever paints a picture of New England that contains a certain view of this New England Family as it pertains to their money and their behavior. For instance the two main characters are Leander Wapshot and his cousin Honora. Leander is the captain of the S.S Topaze a steamboat that operates in the summer (Chesnick). Honora is presented as the sole heiress of a greatly diminished family fortune. Cheever presents her as a spoiled rich girl who throws away her mail (presumably avoiding creditors). She also travels on the town's bus as she wills, but she only sends them a check once a year (Chesnick). In addition she is too important to handle any of the chores or ordinary routine of life (Chesnick). With all this understood Cheever present Honora as an excellent "naked human force, quite apart from dependence and love (Cheever)."

Cheever also presents the New England town as a place where innocence abounds in abundance. Chesnick presents an example of this saying

"The house is easy enough to describe but how to write a sum- mer's day in an old garden? Smell the grass, we say. Smell the trees!" When Leander breaks down and fakes a suicide because his boat has been taken away from him and is being converted into a floating gift shop, Cheever exclaims, "What a tender thing, then, is a man." Happiness is fragile and Cheever wants to depict the life of a man with a delicate and gentle art." (Chesnick)

Cheever's presentation of New England through out this novel and many of his works are reflective of the above passage. At times he seems to be madly in love with the landscape of New England. His descriptions of this region seem to signal both a knowledge of the topography and a longing for the familiar places that Cheever came to know as he grew up in New England.

Although the aforementioned view of New England was often present in Cheever's work. Some literary critics have insisted that that New England that Cheever presents is not New England at all. According to Cheever's suburbs are not really suburbs at all; they are a willed and altogether self-deluding reconstruction of a dream of St. Botolphs. And St. Botolphs is not really what we are meant to take it for, a dying New England village redolent of its sailing-glory days- it too is a fabrication, a sort of Norman Rockwell cover done in the manner of Braque: Cheever's deliberately wistful, self-indulgent, and sleight-of-hand dream of a ruined history and temperament. (Ozik 158)

This criticism seems to assert that Cheever's works do not reflect the authentic New England. Instead what Cheever is presenting is nothing more than a caricature of the region and its people.

Although this criticism has been leveled by others, Cheever remains as one of the foremost authors as it pertains to narratives of New England. His unconventional approach is sighted as one of his greatest strengths. Now that we have garnered a greater understanding of New England in Cheever's writings, the discussion will focus on the theme of infidelity in Cheever's works.

Infidelity

Cheever's short stories and other works often paint a picture of infidelity or sexual scandal and in many cases violence within the context of this social class. The presence of infidelity amongst the main characters is present in Ned from The Swimmer. Blake from The five-forty-eight, and in The Wapshot Chronicles. In The Swimmer, Ned actually swims near the house of his mistress and explains that he was the one that ended the relationship. In The five-forty-eight Blake is actually held at gun point by a woman that he had a one night stand with. In the novel The Wapshot Chronicles infidelity also abounds.

In all of these instances the infidelity can be seem as a theme, although in some cases Cheever does not expound on the infidelity as much. Instead, he will mention the infidelity in passing. In other instances infidelity is the major theme that propels the entire narrative. In any case infidelity is a subject that is constantly present in the works of John Cheever.

Journeys

Another Major theme presented by Cheever is the presence a journey within the context of the short story. In some of his short stories the journey is actually the focal point of the narration. For instance, in The Swimmer, Cheever tells the story of Ned who swims the entire length of the county in which he lives, via the swimming pools that were strung across the county. Ned describes this string of pools as the Lucinda River, named for his wife. Along this journey the landscape of the entire county is described and the reader is engulfed with an understanding of the type of people who live in the community.

In addition to The Swimmer, the theme of a journey is also present in "The Five-Forty-Eight." In this particular short story Cheever uses the train as a central part of the narrative. Blake has to deal wth the reallities of thpast and the problems that his actions have cost. The journey is used to convey the idea and the importance of time.

As it pertains to the theme of journeys, not only does Cheever use them to represent movemtn but he also uses symbols that represent journey or travel to inform the narrative. Such is the case with the shirt story The Angel of the Bridge.

bridges symbolize the missing and necessary link between the fragmented elements of the characters' chaotic lives and the wholeness for which they yearn. Cheever's bridge metaphor can also help us understand his distinctive narrative method and his own position in contemporary American literature as a writer at once traditional and innovative. Were Cheever a completely traditional writer, the narrative bridge he would most likely choose would be a causally related sequence of events: the linear plot associated with traditional fiction. (Morace 504)

In this respect John Cheever truly steps outside of the traditionally uses of "bridge" symbolism. The strength of his narrative often lies in the fact that he takes unconventional approaches to explaining common circumstance. For instance, if we really consider it an man cheating on his wife and then loosing everything is not an uncommon occurrence. However in The swimmer Cheever fashions a scenario in which Ned can get back home if he is willing to travel the river that is Lucinda. In this instance, the character is completely lost and really believes that the journey will lead him back home to his wife. In this instance Cheever takes a common narrative and presents in a manner that is profound.

Conflict

Conflict is also a theme throughout many of Cheever's short stories. This conflict takes on different forms. For instance in the swimmer, Ned seems to be conflicted between what he thinks is true and reality. Throughout the novel he is swimming towards his home where he can be with his wife and daughters. However, in the middle of the narration his neighbor Mrs. Halloran suggests that he no longer has a home and his daughters are suffering. This suggestion is evident in the following passage,

"We've been terribly sorry to bear about all your misfortunes, Neddy."

"My misfortunes?" Ned asked. "I don't know what you mean."

"Why, we heard that you'd sold the house and that your poor children . . . "

"I don't recall having sold the house," Ned said, "and the girls are at home."

(Cheever)

In the narration Ned continues on his journey home. Once he is home it is revealed that his house is indeed empty and his wife and daughters are gone. This is just one example of the conflict that exist in this narration between was is reality and what is illusion.

In addition to this aspect of conflict in The Swimmer, there is also a great deal of conflict associated with Ned's ability to swim across the county. This conflict exist because Ned also drank strong alcoholic beverages throughout his journey. It would have been next to impossible for him to swim after he had consumed just a few of these drinks. This is an obvious conflict that would have hindered his journey but the author presents it as fact and not fiction.