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The Five-Forty-Eight, By John Cheever (1954)

The Five-Forty-Eight, By John Cheever (1954)

Rating: 7.5/10

Well, after reading The Swimmer by the same author, Cheever, this story looks as if it was written by a different author. There are some similarities that exist between these two stories, the narrator in the story is somewhat representing the typical problematic figure of man during that society. Both of them do morally wrong things like committing adultery. However, unlike The Swimmer, which had many devices and a creative plot to interest the readers, I didn't really find anything from The Five-Forty-Eight. You could say that instead of symbols, this story had one more important figure, the woman. However, I couldn't find any message delivered from an additional character. Is it that revenge always follows? or You should behave kindly to your neighbors so that you can get help when you're threatened with a gun?. Even the ending which shows how the woman seemed satisfied and forgotten about Blake did not give me any thrills or any message. I personally found this story unnecessarily long, without achieving anything with the elements the author implemented in the story, therefore I rate this story 7.5 out of 10.

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The Swimmer, By John Cheever (1964)

The Swimmer, By John Cheever (1964) Rating: 9.3/10 I personally think these kinds of stories are what short stories should be like. Very easy to understand, direct, and clear, but also a very unusual way of unfolding the plot compared to other stories. The main character was similar to Blake from The Five-Forty-Eight, they both represent American white men during the era. The devices like alcohol, pool, and season were implemented in a very enjoyable way so that readers can follow them like a clue and reach the conclusion. What I notice from recent stories we've read is that we don't whether the main character changes or not, it's always an open ending, however, we see their environment changing as a consequence of their prior actions. Overall very amusing and I wished I had the ability to write stories like this that can closely touch the readers.
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James Joyce vs Anton Chekhov

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The Lady with the Dog, By Anton Chekhov (1899)

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