The Five Forty Eight
The five forty eight is a short story written by John Cheever in 1954(Kennedy 2004).The story talks about a business man called Blake. Blake is accosted on a train at gun point by his former secretary Miss dent. Mrs. Dent is mentally ill and shed is upset with Mr. Blake. The five forty eight is a story that shines light on the struggle to create perfection. Mrs. Dent creates perfection in order to cover her mental illness (Kennedy 2004). Mr. Blake is a rich businesses man who feeds those who are weak and he does not care about the feelings of other people. For example, Mrs. Dent gets a job as a secretary to Mr. Blake and Mr. Blake misuses her.
Through out the story Mrs. Blake tries to compose her self so as to cover her mental illness and emotional. She fights hard to fit with other people in the society like Mr. Blake. At the beginning of the story, Mr. Blake becomes confused and wonders why Mrs. Dent is following him. The author portrays Mr. Blake as an opportunist in the story (Kennedy 2004). This is because Mr. Blake thinks that Mrs. Dent is easy to shake and that she is not clever. Mr. Blake concludes that Mrs. Dent is lonely and that is why she is following him. Also, in the story Mr. Blake does not remember the name of his secretary as he is only interested in misusing her. He likes dehumanizing women’s who have lack self esteem because he does not see them as people. That is why he misuses Mrs. Dent (Kennedy 2004).After realizing that he has missed the express, Blake leaves the bar and boards the local five forty- eight. At this time, Blake thinks that he has missed Mrs. Dent, but he meets Mrs. Dent in the train. Mrs. Dent threatens to kill him. AT first, the reader is made to assume that Mrs. Dent is fearful and easily manipulated. At the end of the first part of the story, Mrs. Dent threatens to kill Mr. Blake (Kennedy 2004).
This show reverses of roles. Mrs. Dent becomes more powerful than Mr. Blake. At this point Mrs. Dent gets time to tell Mr. Blake the pain he has caused in her life. Mr. Blake does not listen to her, but he is distracted by the ad on the wall of the train. He also concentrates on people who are getting on and off the train. This shows how in human Mr. Blake is.And who is getting on and off of the train. At the end of the story the reader understand that Mrs. Dent is more powerful than Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake is made to look like an opportunist. He realizes that women have apposition in the society (Kennedy 2004).People use the story as a feminist criticism. This is because Mrs. Dent has finally realized that women should have equal rights with women. That is why he takes action against Mr. Blake. Mrs. Dent has undergone a lot of suffering and most of the men have mistreated her like Mr. Blake (Kennedy 2004). Feminists believe that wsomen should have equal rights with men and men should not dominate the society. The author has used the short story to show how women are oppressed and mistreated in a society dominated by men.
Mr. Blake represents all the men in the society and their action s while Mrs. Dent represents women who are oppressed in the society (Kennedy 2004).The author has various styles to convey the message to the reader. For example, the author has used symbolism and irony (Kennedy 2004). First, the author has used Mrs. Dent a symbol of Blake’s past. She is used to symbolize all the women Mr. Blake has manipulated and used in the past. This is because Mr. Blake assumes that the women lack self stemmer Blake does not care about other people, but he likes dehumanizing them. For example, he misused Mrs. (Kennedy 2004). Dent and fired her. He also refused to allow her into his office. At first Mrs. Dent thought that Mr. Blake was good and helpful. But the he opposite of what he thought. Mr. Blake is in human and opportunists. When Mrs. Dent met Mr. Blake, he imagined that her life will be full of happiness, but her life become more miserable than before. She even regrets why she met Mr. Blake (Kennedy 2004).The author of the story has written the story in such a way that the reader sympathizes with Mrs. Dent. But, the reader sympathizes with Mr. Blake.
At first the reader sympathizes with Mrs. Dent because of her mental illness and what happened when working as a secretary. In the story Mrs. Dent appears to be stronger than Mr. Blake. She says that she is better than Mr. Blake because of her character. She does not dehumanize people like Mr. Blake. This shows that the author has used irony to show the difference between Mr. Blake and Mrs. Dent(Kennedy 2004).It is ironical that Mrs. Dent expected Mr. Blake to help her improve her life, but instead misused her. At the end of the story, Mr. Blake is tormented by his actions. Thus, Mrs. Blake appears more realistic and strong than Mr. Blake (Kennedy 2004).The author has used various themes in the story. The main theme in the story is evil verses good. This is shown by Mrs. Dent and Mr. Blake (Kennedy 2004). The story shows a struggle of good verses evil. At the beginning of the story, the author shows the evil characters of Mr. Blake. Mr. Blake has distinct moral issues and the author uses Mr. Blake as the evil force in the story. The author portrays Mr. Blake as manipulative, opportunist, selfish and shallow.
In addition, Mr. Blake has isolated himself from the society. In the story Mr. Blake manipulates Mrs. Dent. He misuses her and fires her. This shows how evil Mr. Blake is. He likes dehumanizing women in the society like Mrs. Dent because they lack self esteem (Kennedy 2004). He takes opportunity of Mrs. Dent being the secretary and misuses her and fires her. Mr. Blake represents the evil men in the society who like oppressing women and dehumanizing them. Also, in the story, the author shows how Mrs. Dent fights hard to revenge what Mr. Blake has done to her. He threatens s to kill Mr. Blake for making her suffer. But, Mr. Blake does not even try to listen to Mrs. Dent.Mrs. Dent makes the reader understand Mr. Blake more and see how evil he is. This is because Mrs. Dent says that she is better than Mr. Blake (Kennedy 2004). This is because Mr. Blake likes dehumanizing other people and he does not care about other people. For example, he dehumanizes Mrs. Dent. Also, Mrs. Dent says that she thought Mr. Blake would help her improve her life because he has a lot of money. But, Mr. Blake is not good as she thought. Thus, the author portrays the theme of good verses evil in the story (Kennedy 2004).
Reference
Kennedy,X.J .Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama. Longman, 2004
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