I am of the opinion that “The Enormous Radio” qualifies as gothic literature because there is an atmosphere transgressive emotion and action involved with the radio and Irene’s desire to continue to hear the secret lives of others. It is taboo to secretly listen to others conversations. Yet it could be argued that Irene had a passion for hearing what went on behind the closed doors of her neighbors. She was doing the forbidden and went against the norms of polite society by engaging in her listening to what was coming in through the radio. There is also an element of CGI when after the husband has the radio “fixed,” it no longer projects the lives of the neighbors. Irene is even hoping at the end  of the story, when her husband is arguing with her, degrading her with his questions of her mistakes and errors in life, that she can escape her feelings by hearing the pains of others. I think that is very normal in 2021, to look for others pain and misery on social media so that one can feel better about themself.

John Cheever’s “The Enormous Radio” does not fall into the category of Gothic Literature. The story is of a normal husband and wife that do normal activities you would find most couples doing. They enjoy music and going out and sitting listening to the radio together. The husband buys his wife a new radio after the old one breaks. Unfortunately, the new radio has some wiring issues. It starts picking up conversations of other households in the building. Not every apartment comes through the radio and they cannot “tune in” to any specific apartment they want to. I believe that these other apartments must have some form of electrical equipment with a mic that allows for the conversations to be picked up and crossed through the radio waves. We can confirm this being a normal occurrence when the husband has a repairman come and “fix” the radio. After it is fixed it no longer gets its radio waves mixed up and projects the music coming from the stations it is tuned to. Like most couples, these two have good times and bad times, as witnessed at the end of the story when they argue. While the husband is mean and bringing up old items of concern in an effort to put his wife down, this is something that can happen in any couples relationship.