Good vs. Evil in John Cheever's The Five-Forty-Eight
John Cheever was an award winning American author of the twentieth century. His work often possessed 'psychological and religious vision' with central themes of 'sin, deception, and redemption' (Kennedy, 551). Cheever's short story entitled 'The Five-Forty-Eight' portrays a struggle of good vs. evil. Following the themes of sin, deception, and redemption, we read of a young woman (good) seeking revenge for the evil done to her. Through the course of the story the reader can distinguish between the traits of good and evil.
The Webster's dictionary defines evil as 'that which is morally wrong.' Blake has some distinct morality issues. Blake, the evil force in the story, possesses many character flaws that are indicative of the force he portrays. He is self-absorbed, manipulative, and shallow and has isolated himself from his friends and family. Blake sacrifices his relationships to give into his sexual desires, which is our first indication of his evil streak. He sleeps with Mrs. Dent, his secretary, and proceeds to fire her. As a result of Blake?s many one night of stands, in which he manipulates women to sleep with him, he loses his wife, son, and friends. He is so incredibly shallow and self-involved that he married his wife for her beauty alone; he has no attraction to her in her old age. He does not even pretend to love his wife ?the physical charms that had been her only attraction were gone? (554). His neighbors and friends hear of the evil Blake has done to his own wife, and as a result they reject Blake as a friend. His self-involved attitude prevents him from caring that he has no companions. When his neighbor, Mrs. Compton, cannot give him a genuine smile, we r...
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...relationship. Cheever?s preoccupation with sin and deception is played out in the story.
Works Cited
Cheever, John. ?The Five-Forty-Eight.? Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2002. 550-561.
Chesnick, Eugene. ?The Domesticated Stroke of John Cheever.? Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 7 of 46. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1980. 48.
Oates, Joyce Carol. Article on John Cheever. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 11 of 46. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1980. 119-120.
The New Webster?s Dictionary. New York: Lexicon Publications, Inc., 1990. 135.
Tyler, Anne. Article on John Cheever. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 11 of 46. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1980.
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Cheever, John. "The Swimmer." The Northon Anthology American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
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Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors through the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1966. Print.
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Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol.
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more than evil is capable of what seems to be good. More often in the story, God