Author: Thomas Tracy

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.

Some points that stood out to me in Allen Lloyd-Smith’s “American Gothic Fiction: An Introduction”

1. “From the earliest period of American Gothicism – and some critics have seen almost the whole of American writing as a Gothic literature – differences in American circumstances led American Gothicists in other directions…” (pg. 4)
2. “Among these American pressures were the frontier experience, with its inherent solitude and potential violence; the Puritan inheritance; fear of European subversion and anxieties about popular democracy which was then a new experiment; the relative absence of developed ‘society;’ and very significantly, racial issues concerning both slavery and the Native Americans.” (pg. 4)
3. “Hallmarks of the Gothic include a pushing toward extremes and excess, and that, of course, implies an investigation of limits. In exploring extremes…Gothic tends to reinforce, if only in a novel’s final pages, culturally prescribed doctrines of morality and propriety.” (pg. 5)
4. “Among the extremes and taboos that Gothic explores…This can be interpreted as a dark side of Enlightenment freethinking or the persistence of an increasingly excluded occultist tradition in western culture, one which paradoxically insisted on an acknowledgment of the continuing existence of magic, religious, and demonic forces within a more and more secular society.” (pg. 6)
5. “Gothic interest in extreme states and actions can also be seen to correlate with widespread social anxieties and fears.” (pg. 6)

These first six short stories have been an exciting introduction to the genre. I would not have imagined that such short reads would ever provoke lengthly conversation within my own head. However, that is exactly what has occurred. Each story, intriguing me in so many ways, has made it difficult to choose a favorite. “Young Goodman Brown,” was for me the most exciting and fascinating story as of yet. The use of symbolism and foreshadowing was really cool. Hawthorne’s use of the name “Faith” and innocence of the faithful, was aptly portrayed by the “pink ribbons” in her hair. It was impactful at the end of the story when Brown is coming to the realization of all the evil in this world and claims, “My Faith is gone!” and the pink ribbon fluttering to the ground. There is a true sadness when in life you realize that what you believed to be, or how you thought something was, is suddenly shown to be something else. I know in my own life a time when what I thought was the case was sharply and suddenly shown to be something else. I enjoyed reading this for many reasons. One of the reasons that really stood out to me was how Hawthorne kept me on the edge of my seat as to what Brown will encounter next and how will Brown try and keep his resolve to push on the journey. There is an innocence in him as well that seems to be slowly squeezed out of him with each person he meets along the path. It really spoke to me this story. Hawthorne uses this dream encounter as a way for Brown to see people unlike he had been seeing them before. Showing that there are two sides to everybody, the side they want you and others to see and their true self. Browns innocence is gone at the end and he can no longer find happiness in his faith. This left me very sad. It is rare for a story to catch me and really take hold so emotionally. This is why this one was my favorite.