The Enormous Radio Summary

Two of John Cheever’s stories from “The Stories of John Cheever” revolve around a couple. In both instances, the couples happen to be married and have two children. Although the stories don’t directly mention when they take place, one could infer that they take place in the sixties due to the way things are described. In “The Enormous Radio”, the radio was large and difficult to move; “…with the assistance of her maid and the handyman Irene uncrated it and brought it into the living room.” The time period of the stories is paramount to why they are so interesting. John Cheever’s stories, “The Enormous Radio” and “The Season of Divorce” both break the mold of a typical nineteen-sixties family.

Most people learn about the sixties by reading from a textbook or by watching old television shows. “Leave it to Beaver” is the classic
When people think of the sixties, they tend to think of families eating together, spending time together, and never having any sort of quarrels, which is why both of Cheever’s stories shatter the perceived notion of families never fighting.

The couples mentioned in Cheever’s stories share similar traits. Jim and Irene Westcott, the couple in “The Enormous Radio” live on the twelfth floor of an apartment complex in New York. Ethel and her husband, who’s name is not mentioned, the couple