John Cheever's "The Enormous Radio" 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. When their first radio breaks down, Jim buys another as a gift for his wife. At first Irene is rather put off by the "physical ugliness of the large gumwood cabinet." Its "dials flooded with a malevolent green light," and inside the cabinet held "violent forces" (1). More disturbing is the radio's tendency to pick up interference. Wanting to hear music, Irene instead hears ringi...
Hutch, the main character of The Big Field, has played baseball all of his life. He has always played shortstop, the same position that his father dreamed of playing as a professional. “Hutch, had always thought of himself as the captain of any infield he’d ever been a part of” (Lupica 1). Hutch finds himself being demoted to second base because there is another player, Darryl, on his new team that is expected to go pro and also plays shortstop. Hutch struggles because he does not want to play second base and his father does not support him because he does not want baseball to break Hutch’s dreams like it did his own. Hutch is betrayed by his father and Darryl when he finds them practicing together. Hutch has to learn to adjust and eventually becomes friends with Darryl, the up and coming shortstop. He understands that if he wants to win, then he needs to work together with Darryl. His father also comes around and finally gives Hutch his approval. Students should read this book in a high school English classroom because it demonstrates how relationships can be difficult, but teamwork can help to solve many issues.
In the short story “Cornet at night” by Sinclair Ross, Tom Dickson is a young farm boy who lives on a farm with his parents. He is very naive and has not had a chance to experience the outside world for his own. He knows only what he learns from the farm and school, but now that he gets to go on a small adventure on his on, he grows up in a variety of ways. One way in which Tom grows up is when he goes to town by himself. He has gone before, but with the security of his parents with him, and for a young boy to go to another town “eight miles north of here” is a large task for such a young boy, thus showing one way that he matures. To illustrate this, as Tom rolls into town with Rock he says, “I remember nothing but a smug satisfaction with myself, an exhilarating conviction of importance and
In the novel “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the story is a direct letter to his son. This letter contains the tools and instructions that his son will need in order to be a successful “black body” in the modern society. Coates explains his life experiences and hardships he had to overcome because of the color of his skin. Coates pushes an urgent message to the world; discrimination is still prevalent and real in today 's society, and the world is still struggling to accept an equal life for blacks. Coates writings alter the minds of his readers and allow them to experience life through a black man 's eyes. Ta-Nehisi Coates does this by the use of rhetorical strategies like, repetition and tone, metaphors and similes, and
Fierce, vehement, and feral, Emile Griffith punched Benny Paret 18 times within a mere 3 seconds. These crucial 3 seconds became life-changing for the enduring Benny Paret as he confronted death; unfortunately, Paret could not bear the deep wound inflicted to him by Griffith and has passed away. In the stands, the audience was frightened by what they saw, but one in particular, Norman Mailer, was also appalled and incredulous in what he had witnessed. Afterwards, Norman Mailer published a passage, The Death of Benny Paret, describing the brutal fight and delineating his perspective on the issue. In The Death of Benny Paret, Norman Mailer utilized stylistic devices such as diction, literary devices, and syntax to give the reader an overall dismal mood about the brawl throughout the passage, because that is how Mailer felt that mournful day.
In today’s society, people are taught to conform to the masses in order to fit in; however, it is imperative that one’s individuality is maintained, as it preserves their identity and encourages uniqueness. For example, in the song, “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends”, Phil Ochs discusses the social norm where people are too afraid to stand out, often times, leading them to pay little to no attention to the wellbeing of others. Instead of adhering to their own judgment and moral values, the person in the song continues to abide by the notions of the rest of the group. In addition, in “The Dying Girl that No One Helped”, Loudon Wainright describes the brutal murder of a young 28 year old women, while over 38 of
As depicted by Scott F. Fitzgerald, the 1920s is an era of a great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor remain to fend for themselves, with no help of any kind coming their way. Throughout Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the two “breeds” of wealthier folk consistently butt heads in an ongoing battle of varying lifestyles. The West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the newly rich, with little to no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are signified by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people have inherited their riches from the country’s wealthiest old families and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the newly wealthy, is unconscientiously squandered by Gatsby in an effort to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, into his life once again. Over the course of his countless wild parties, he dissipates thousands upon thousands of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to attract Daisy’s attention. For Gatsby, the only way he could capture this happiness is to achieve his personal “American Dream” and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and the ones around him; his actions destroy relationships and ultimately get two people killed.
John Cheever’s The Enormous Radio depicts the story of Jim and Irene Westcott’s discovery of their neighbor’s daily conflicts through a newly purchased radio. The significance of the radio being “newly purchased” is because the Westcotts do not seem to have financial issues; they live a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle off of Jim’s income. Cheever exposes the idea of social classes and their negative effect on the Westcott family, by encouraging comparisons between individual’s tranquility status and endorsing social status.
At the early 20th century before the World War I, American society was undergoing a cultural revolution. People were constantly looking for their identity and the meaning of life in these changes. Mingling the historical reality with fiction, Doctorow’s Ragtime perfectly grasps the struggles of Americans with different social classes. People in the novel either welcome the changes and complete the transformation or hang on to the old social norms and become deserted by society. Mother, one character from an upper-class family living in New Rochelle, belongs to the former and experiences many changes throughout the story as a wife and simply as a woman.
In the novel Ragtime, many aspects of the American society are explored. The reader gets an understanding of the history and hardships of different social classes, races, and cultures during the last century. A persistent theme established is the existence of the American dream. Doctorow expresses his fascination of the social mobility since it includes the impoverished and underprivileged. However, he highlights that when attempting to reach success, one is required to make sacrifices, negotiating his morality and identity. Tateh and Coalhouse are crucial examples of how the demands, prejudices, and opportunities of the American society can change a man’s mentality.
The book takes place in the Roaring ‘20s, a time when everyone was rich. New money clashed with old money, and the sophisticated breeding of the wealthy class was not happy. The vulgar newly rich citizens were ruining society as morals loosened all around. Old money became hypocrisy, claiming they were pure when they were just as ruined as the new money. This is demonstrated in the Great Gatsby by Tom Buchanon. He says often that women shouldn’t run around and that new money is vulgar. He does this while flaunting his own relationship with his mistress. Everyone knows he’s cheating on Daisy, and he doesn’t care. He yells when Daisy cheats on him, but expects his own unfaithfulness to be overlooked. This sort of behavior is constant over time. Celebrities today are posted and paraded all over TV and magazines, no matter what they do. Justin Beiber was caught drunk dri...
In Marie Winn's article, Television: The Plug-In Drug, Winn brings forth the destruction that television causes a family’s lifestyle. The “rituals” families normally partake in are becoming less concurrent, sometimes even extinct. Winn mentions, “By its domination of the time families spend together, it destroys the special quality that distinguish...
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer in writing detective stories and horror stories. One of his horror stories, “The Cask of Amontillado” was talking about how a man took his revenge to his friend. However, to look deeply in this story, I found that this story was not just simply a horror tale about how a man gets his revenge in the safest way. Instead, it also demonstrates much irony in several areas: the title, the event, the season, the costume, the environment, the characters’ personalities, a man’s dignity and cockiness and at the end, the public order. he are
In Don DeLillo's satirical novel White Noise, we become acquainted with what we might call a "postmodern family" - a group of people loosely bound together by birth, marriage, and common residence. But as we observe this family, we notice that the bonds between them are strained at best, and that their lives have been taken over by some insidious new force. This force is popular culture. For better or worse, pop culture has infiltrated the lives of our fictional family just as it has the lives of real human beings. DeLillo's purpose in the book is best illuminated by Heinrich's comment after the airborne toxic event: "The real issue is the kind of radiation that surrounds us every day." In other words, DeLillo states that popular culture is ruining - or, perhaps, has ruined - us all.
Such events like Coney Island and the entertainment culture of the early 1900’s. The entertainment culture was growing rapidly. Jazz from the African Americans had been created and was the dominate form of music. Jazz was a sense of freedom because the musicians played based on the emotion and feelings. Jazz was not liked by the older generations because of men like Jelly Roll Morton, who was to sexualize. People would go as far and say that Jazz music should not be played near schools and hospitals because it was bad music. Although Jazz music was not necessarily welcomed by everyone in America, The Radio was and became a hot commodity. Radio was symbolized as unity for America. Radio brought the American family together. The radio provided America with news, music, entertainment, etc. The radio was in 90% of homes and was building a national culture. Although the radio deemed as positive, it also spread fictional stories and events through the American homes. War of the Worlds was when the radio broadcasters would say that the world is in disaster and would cause chaos in homes across America. Radio transformed America with its entertainment bringing people together coming a focal
The film “Modern Times,” directed by Charlie Chaplin, is set in the mid nineteen thirties. This time frame places the characters in the middle of the Great Depression and the industrial revolution. The film depicts the lifestyle and quality of living for people in this era by showing a factory worker who cannot take the monotony of working on an assembly line. The film follows the factory worker through many of his adventures throughout the film. The film’s main stars are Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard.