Comparing Irene Westcott and Neddy Merrill - Essay Example

Compare/ Contrast Irene Westcott and Neddy Merrill Irene Westcott discovers so much about herself, her neighbors and her husband through a strange ugly radio bought by her husband for entertainment purpose. The radio is strange in the sense that it can let the user listen to what is going on through the whole neighborhood (Cheever, 23). Westcott Irene is so glued to it that all her activities stop since she gets some strange pleasure and addiction from listening on her neighbors. Neddy Merril of The Swimmer on the other hand, decides to swim his way to his house through neighbors’ pools, which have outlets leading to his home. On his escapade, he discovers so much about his life, which is both intriguing and shocking to him. Comparison and Contrast The first comparison between the two is the quest for getting knowledge. When Irene Westcott discovered that the radio was capable of letting her know what was happening in her neighborhood, she got very interested and intrigued to know more. She acquired a strange attraction towards wanting to know more and more about her neighbors. In The Swimmer, Neddy Merril wanted to swim through the whole neighborhood in his quest for knowledge on what had been happening that had passed him. In both stories, the personas wanted to know more about what was going on around the each time. In both stories, the personas are at first lost in ignorance. In The Enormous Radio, Irene Westcott’s first radio was just an old instrument of entertainment, and this represents how ignorant they were. It is a sign of their ignorance since they did not understand its essence apart from the fact that it was an instrument of entertainment. In The Swimmer, Neddy Merril has a pool back home which is simply in the confines of his home, so he is not capable of seeing anything beyond himself which is a sign of his ignorance (Cheever, 73). Once he leaves for the outside world by using the other pools, he gets to know better about himself and his surroundings. This is a clear sign of how his own swimming pool has left him ignorant. Both stories give us a view of hypocrisy. In The Enormous Radio, Irene Wastcott spends her entire time listening to her neighbors’ lives and listening to their problems and misdeeds forgetting that she also has problems of her own which might even be worse. In The Swimmer Neddy Merril decides to take a swim through his neighborhood with an aim of getting to know about his neighbors’ lives. He forgets that he also has problems that he needs to sit down to try and solve before intruding in other people’s lives. Both stories give us a view of both the personas trying to escape from their own life problems. Each and every person likes to forget the problems they have and escape reality by taking a trip or getting absorbed in something like music or a movie. This is simply a way of escaping one’s own problems. Irene Westcott tries to escape her daily life problems by listening to a radio throughout, and once it is broken down she insists for its fast repair to escape her problems. In the end, she still faces her problems when the radio is taken for its final repair. “Jim Westcott exposes Irene’s hypocrisy at the end of the story. “Who’s turned you overnight into a convent girl? You stole your mother’s jewelry before they probated her will. You never gave your sister a cent of that money that was intended for her—not even when she needed it. You made Grace Howland’s life miserable, and where was all your piety and your virtue when you went to the abortionist?…You packed your bag and went off to have that child murdered as if you were going to Nassau.” (Cheever, 78). Neddy Merril on the other hand, tries to escape his problems by taking a swim through the whole neighborhood thinking that it will help him escape by concentrating on the things. In the end after the whole swim, he still has to face the problems he has all along been trying to avoid. Both stories are a representation of how the personas, Irene and Neddy lead untrue lives. The fact that Neddy lives a comfortable life with his family and has a pool as well as time to go out and drink is a representation of how he is running away from the reality that he is living in debt. Once he starts his swimming adventure, it is revealed his in debt and forgotten about others since his inner life is really sure of extramarital affairs, debts and so many secrets. In The Enormous Radio, Irene forgets her debts and even stops working to listen to the radio. She lives the lifestyle which does not suit her and is of the people who have already made enough money in life and should be living comfortably with no worries. This is proof that she is living a life which is not of her status. In both stories, the personas’ present are destroyed by their past. In the case Irene Wastcott, we note that her past, which is full of debt, comes back and hits her present and almost destroys her life. Though she has hidden it for some time, her husband finally comes to know of it, and that is the beginning of her problem. In the case of Neddy Merril, when he starts the swim and meets people from his past, this is what comes to destroy his life totally and makes him lose even his entire life. Contrast also exists between the two stories. In The Enormous Radio, Irene Westcott is from a country setting and her lifestyle is not that of an urban setting, and in fact, the introduction of urban style to her life like the radio destroys her life. In contrast is the lifestyle of Neddy Merril who lives in urban settings. This is characterized by his life revolving around swimming pools and everything being modern (Cheever, 57). The other contrast exists in the fact that Neddy Merril had forgotten about his first not expecting it to come out. He did not try to hide it that is why he did not expect it to be out. On the side of Irene Westcott, she had hidden her past, and she knew that somehow, it would come to light. Work Cited Cheever, John. The Wapshot Chronicle. New York: Perennial Classics, 2003. Print. Read More