John Cheever’s story The Enormous Radio can be considered Gothic literature. The story doesn’t reveal that it is Gothic in the first few pages, but it develops into Gothic literature. Gothic definitions show that one of the Gothic emotions a reader can see in Gothic literature is a character acting irrational. In the story Irene finds out that the new radio can pick up the conversations and sounds coming from each unit in the building except her own, which causes her to spend most of the day everyday listening to the radio. Irene changes in a negative way because of the radio. When Irene went out with her friend all she could think about was wanting to know what her private life is like, so she rushed home back to the radio. The radio became the most important thing in her life. Irene’s behavior is irrational. Irene also dwells in negativity believing the world and most people are evil, this type of behavior is normal for Gothic literature. The story also represents Tzvetan Todorov’s  the marvelous definition from his The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, which is another important element that shows a story is Gothic literature.In the end of the story the radio becomes a normal radio. In most Gothic stories the end is concluded with a return to normalcy. The Enormous Radio involves central Gothic irony the way that most Gothic narratives will, therefore making it Gothic literature.

             The Enormous Radio mostly focuses on the wife, Irene. Irene spends the majority of her time in her apartment which doesn’t represent a Gothic setting. The unit wasn’t described as a dark space, old, or bleak. The setting of a Gothic literature can start off in a normal environment, but at some point before the end the setting will follow the rules of a Gothic setting. The Enormous Radio does not change its setting to anything Gothic. A Gothic literature will make it’s main character go through a death or near death experience that can be revealed later as a dream, showing  that the character miraculously survived. Irene is sheltered from having any near death experiences and she doesn’t die in the story. Irene spends most of her time listening to the radio and when she did go outside she wasn’t alone or in any dark dangerous places. The story in many ways does not appear to be Gothic literature. The story never shows Irene waking up from a nightmare, so the events were not revealed to be a dream. The dream is a plot point in most Gothic literature.The Enormous Radio lacks the plot points needed to show its Gothic literature.The characters in a story play a role in making it a Gothic story. The characters in the story are not heroes or villains. The characters are regular people put in an unusual situation.