Enormous Influences
How does life circumstances and experiences influence and affect what a great writer publishes? This is very important question one should ask themselves before delving into any reading. John Cheever, a renowned short story writer, novelist, and story teller, is not exempt of this rule. One of his most famous works called “The Enormous Radio”, is a great work to judge how strongly Cheever’s influenced his work. In this story, the exceptionally normal Westcott family buys an expensive radio. Once they begin using it, they realize their neighbors interactions can be heard on the stations. As the story progresses, Mrs. Westcott begins to obsess over the radio and hearing all of her neighbors’ private lives (especially their
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One of the problems he dealt with was economic issues. He never seemed to fall into economic despair, but at times he and his family had to scrape by like many middle class families do. Scott Donaldson in his book “John Cheever: A Biography”, discusses many things that influenced Cheever’s writing. One of which was Cheever’s economic experience. Donaldson described Cheever and his wife Mary as early in marriage being, “Financially […] neither well off nor improvised.” (Donaldson 93) Cheever and his wife never fell into the lower class or poverty, but they did have issues much like many middle class families. The Cheever’s felt the issue of being stuck in the middle. During these year Cheever’s wife worked a publishing job to ensure the two made it by. The middle class economic struggle was definitely present in Cheever’s …show more content…
It is not totally exactly when his abuse started, but it definitely influenced his life. For a long period of time, Cheever tried his best to hide his issues and keep it secret. He worried what would happen if people found out his struggle, and eventually he had had enough. Samuel Coale wrote about John Cheever’s Struggle with alcohol in his book “John Cheever”. He recorded that “he (Cheever) was fighting a losing battle against severe and chronic alcoholism” so he decided to go, “for a month to Smithers, an alcoholic rehabilitation center in New York City” (Coale 8). During this time he no longer cared to keep his struggle a secret and admitted and reported his alcoholism in many interviews. After spending a month at Smithers Cheever left a fully rehabilitated man. He felt like he had let those he cared about down and he desired to no longer have to bear the weight of his secret and both of these feelings he attributed to his recovery. Both of those reasons were his spoken motivations for his recovery. The greatest unspoken motivation for him was probably his near death experience with a heart attack around this time. Cheever struggled but eventually he championed and overcame his alcohol
...ant issues facing our world today. At the end of the day, every one could learn much from a writer that was never afraid to share his opinion on any subject no matter what anyone else thought about it. This goes to show, no matter how much an opinion differs from the majority, or the popular opinion, everyone still has a right and responsibility to let it be known.
Throughout history, America has produced some of the greatest writers to walk the earth. Novels, poems, plays, and short stories have captivated the American public. No one was better at enchanting his audience than John Cheever. John Cheever wrote many short stories throughout his life. He has been presented with many awards for his works. Cheever was a master of spinning tales about suburban life and other situations he experienced. Some of his most popuar works included “The Swimmer”, “O Youth and Beauty!”, and “The Enormous Radio”. His works were well received by the public and he achieved great fame during his lifetime. However, he also lived a life of hardship and scandal. Even after his death in 1982, Cheever is remembered as one of the greatest writers in American history.
Money was tough for people to come by. As Dobie says, “Money sure can buy nice stuff can’t it? Boy, if you had the dough you sure could fix up a swell house. (Bell, 309) Money could do so much for person. Often times there was not enough money to buy meat or pay the bills. Money would come in on paydays and often that would be the only day when the family had money. Like when Francka sar...
Hennessy, Denis. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 218: American Short-Story Writers Since World War II, Second Series. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Patrick Meanor, State University of New York at Oneonta, and Gwen Crane, State University of New York at Oneonta. Gale Group, 1999. pp. 70-77.
“On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft” is not written in the traditional textbook format. The structure of this book works as an educational tool is because it offers a personal look at how writing has affected one successful novelist's life. Each section of the book contains something important about the craft of writing. The book also includes a great deal of about the personal impact writing has had on Stephen King's life.
Writing about any artist or author makes us more curious about the writer and his or her view of life. I believe every writer reflects his or her own perspective in their writings even if they did not talk about themselves; this will appear to the reader in one way or another.
Many authors use the personification of inanimate objects to symbolize the feelings and expressions of their characters. One example of this is in John Cheever’s short story, "The Enormous Radio." Although critics argue that the characteristics of the radio are the opposite of those of Jim and Irene Westcott, the radio actually reflects the couple’s life.
Gwendolyn Brooks once said “I felt that I had to write. Even if I had never been published, I knew that I would go on writing, enjoying it, and experiencing the challenge”. For some, writing may not be enjoyable or easy, but for Brooks writing was her life. Gwendolyn Brooks not only won countless awards, but also influenced the lives of several African Americans.
In addition, authors frequently lack originality and simply take the reader on all-too-familiar voyages into politics, morals, or religion. Successful writers are those who risk and go on to write about topics that many times others have been less willing to address. The product of these extraordinary efforts is compositions richly enhanced by human feelings and real problems that we encounter and relate to our everyday lives…thought-provoking discussions about religion, philosophy, or politics. These pioneering authors are not afraid to write about evil, the perverse aspects of man, or even sexuality… Their true voices have risen from behind the words taking shape in the minds of the readers. Few have done this, but in the 19th Century two remarkable Americans produced compositions of unequal quality. Their styles and the way they approach the reader are different from t...
In the short story by John Cheever called "The Enormous Radio" it begins with Jim and Irene Westcotts appearing like the perfect American family. Cheever describes them as "the kind of people who seem to strike that satisfactory average of income, endeavor, and respectability" (Cheever 1). What is ironic about this story is the Westcotts are far from being the perfect family and the community they try to conform to is just as imperfect as the Westcotts themselves. A way the Westcotts try to live up to their society is by keeping secret the fact that they listen to the radio and attend musical events. This is because these activities were not something members of their community did. For example, Cheever says the "Westcotts differed from their friends, their classmates, and their neighbors only in an interest in music. They went to a great many concerts although they never mentioned this to anyone" (1). In the rest of the story Irene Westcott has an addiction to an eavesdropping radio that reveals the personalities and business of her friends and neighbors.
In conclusion, “Why, You Reckon,” by Langston Hughes, the author does an excellent job of expressing to his readers that money isn’t everything. The setting and characters used in this short story help the reader see too that people aren’t always as happy as they
From the time Ernest Hemingway became a renowned author, his works, as well as his life, have been analyzed by many. Under such scrutiny, many aspects of Hemingway’s works and life experiences have been in question to the realities and fallacies, which he laid forth. Much of Hemingway’s life, especially his time volunteering as an ambulance driver in Europe, has been in question to the true validity of his myth as a true adventurer and hero. However, as I have found, much of the mythology surrounding Hemingway is very true indeed, which leads me to believe that he did not embellish his life but rather used his experiences to create some of the greatest works of literature to be written throughout the twentieth century.
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
... Short-Story Writers, 1910-1945, First Series. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Bobby Ellen Kimbel, Pennsylvania State University, Ogontz Campus. The Gale Group, 1989. pp. 159-171.
By having even the slightest bit of ‘magic’ in a fabulist work of literature, the author is able to tell the story within a very real setting and yet be able to place a spin on events, subjects, or objects with the ‘magic’ in order to express their message. Thus, an author like Ray Bradbury is capable of using the technology within the house setting as his sole protagonist (though through various pieces of the technology). With Cheever’s The Enormous Radio, the radio affords him the ability to express the secrets and stories of the other characters of the story without having to explicitly describe them or introduce them as characters in the way he does the Westcott’s. Furthermore, the radio is a more upfront way in which to present the minor characters that also prevents Cheever from having to build a full story behind each character and permits him to give the reader the smallest glimpse of the character that contains all that the reader will ever (and ever need to)