I’ve seen this idea bobbing it’s head in Hollywood, Cheever planted this seed a long time ago, and to read it now after seeing it mentioned the New York Times daily review of Cheever; A Life, I feel ashamed that I’ve never read The Enormous Radio.
Jim and Irene Wescott are Cheever citizens, keepers of the faith, holding down jobs, and keeping their apartment clean. They have children, (Cheever likes to have a few crumb snatchers around just to humble his main characters) and the strains of life aren’t apparent right away. But when they buy a new radio and try to enjoy music, something that doesn’t happen in the modern home anymore, they realize that the radio station’s on the dial are broadcasting conversations from other apartments in their building.
We hear the squabbles, and mild accusations, threats, the beatings, and the radio gives voice to the common man as he grinds the day to day living which is taken for granted. In the suburbs you can get a taste of this kind of passive aggressive violent frequency by listening to people talk on their cell phones. People think that the entire world needs to hear what they’re saying on the phone. Ninety-nine percent of the time I’m angered by this useless static, but sometimes you get a gem. Cheever of course never heard of a cell phone, but his radio that can catch the wantings and whispers of your neighbors is wonderful to experience. By the end of the story, Jim and Irene have turned on each other, and we hear what we always knew was the truth. That life is plain, dirty, one part ugly and one part beauty, and it stinks, but at the end of the day it is yours to live.
-JR
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