The five forty eight

Miss Dent

The Role of Miss Dent in Cheever's "The Five Forty Eight": The Dichotomy of Agency and Purpose

In John Cheever's short story "The Five Forty Eight," a rather smug, judgmental, and incredibly callous businessman is pursued by the secretary he fired three months prior after a brief sexual encounter. By today's standard's, Mr. Blake's behavior in this and other instances -- specifically his two-week-long refusal to speak to his wife because she didn't have the dinner ready -- would have been considered abuse of one kind or another, and certain cause for legal action and termination from his company. Blake's behavior, however, is only one aspect of the story, and when "The Five Forty Eight" was published in 1954 his behavior might have still been considered abhorrent, but it would not have been the focus of Cheever or his readers. In some ways, this seems to suggest that though the story is told from Blake's perspective, he is merely a foil to Miss Dent.

The third person limited view of the story means that the reader only learns about Miss Dent what Mr. Blake does, but it is important to note that Blake is tied down by his own prejudices and perspective, and the reader is better equipped to assess both characters in the light of their situation. Miss Dent's intentions are unclear for most of the story; after she has pressed her pistol into his abdomen, one has reason to doubt her sincerity when she claims she won't harm him, as well as her stability in being able to provide that assurance. It is unclear, then, whether there is any rational motive at the heart of Miss Dent's actions, or what they are if indeed they exist. Is this about earning back her self-respect, or about teaching Mr. Blake a lesson? There is evidence to suggest both, yet the former requires a great deal of agency -- which Dent appears to be almost incapable of -- while the other makes of Dent little more than a foil herself.

Self-respect is a running theme in Miss Dent's rants and writings; several times she insists that the people at the hospital where she had been for eight moths "only wanted to take away my self-respect" (Cheever 32). It is quite conceivable that her intended goal, then, is to place herself in a position of power over Mr. Blake and so earn back the self-respect that was lost when he slept with her and then fired her the next day. Miss Dent in this story has been identified as a "recuperating victim," and this interpretation of her character would certainly bear out this assessment of her character (Facknitz 346). She has noted that during her recent weeks of bed-ridden despondency, all she could think about was planning this night's events; Blake's domination of her had provided an insurmountable barrier, and her control over Blake propels her past it.

This interpretation is entirely plausible, but it is not borne out by careful attention to Cheever's construction of the story. The focus is entirely on Blake; as the story is told from Blake's perspective, the self-centeredness of his character -- the fact that he "always prey[s] on weak people" -- is only enhanced by this perspective (Cheever 33). Furthermore, Miss Dent never achieves any real violence in Cheever's story, which raises serious questions as to her true level of agency -- especially in a work by Cheever (Facknitz 346). Even the appearance that she is somehow the more active of the two major characters in the story, as well as her sense of control, are misleading to one degree or another. Blake manages to dodge and avoid her for quite some time; he is not docile or impotent, but rather acts out of expediency -- and fear, yes, but the fear leads to the expediency -- in eventually doing as he is told. Miss Dent has actually been far more at his mercy than she his, and even her actions in the story were caused by him.