The Fourth Alarm W

To Change or not to Change: the Masculine-Feminine Relationship In John Cheever’s short story, “The Fourth Alarm,” the narrator is perplexed by the recent actions of his rebellious wife. She quit her job, partakes as a nude actor in an amateur theatre, and refuses to listen to her male chauvinist husband. The narrator’s wife’s abandonment of the Apollonian for the Dionysian serves as a modern day Adam and Eve that, instead of questioning the sinful nature of man, questions the traditional masculine-feminine roles in society. According to Biblical tradition, Adam and Eve lived prosperously in an orderly, Apollonian garden — Eden. However, once Eve strays from this order and eats the apple of knowledge (while tempting Adam to eat it as well), they both become tainted with original sin. Adam and Eve’s rejection of tradition, as symbolized by eating the forbidden fruit, results in their ejection from the Garden of Eden and into a more chaotic future. As Eve rejected the Apollonian in an attraction to the Dionysian, the narrator’s wife rejected her traditional role of mother and teacher and embraced the Dionysian traits of nudity, disorder, and orgy. She disobeys her masculine husband and tempts him to take off his clothes; get rid of his watch, wallet, and keys; and embrace sexual equality. In essence, she is stripping off what the narrator considers his identity, “I held my valuables in my right hand, my literal identification” (Cheever 196). Unlike Adam and Eve, which primary subject matter is original sin, “The Fourth Alarm” delves into the feminine break from social subjugation. Cheever does not demonize the narrator’s wife as the Bible demonizes Eve. He instead focuses on the husband’s reaction to his wife’s embracement of a sexual equality that challenges male-female societal roles. The narrator, despite stripping, can not let go of his worldly possessions that represent his masculinity. He is comforted by tradition and wishes his wife would