When relating to the first stage of “use” it is important to remember it is not the radio that is addictive. The addiction is the forbidden information/knowledge that the new one is sending out. The first radio was a symbol of their paradise in ignorance:

“Their radio was an old instrument, sensitive, unpredictable, and

beyond repair. Neither of them understood the mechanics of

radio -or of any of the other appliances that surrounded them”(Cheever 229)

With the new radio, new things are introduced. First, no signal was being

When Irene is listening to this over the radio she is getting private insight into people’s lives. She is hearing things nobody else is supposed to hear. In it she said her life was sheltered. While she listened, she was experiencing and learning about life, more than she had ever been exposed to before. She knew it was wrong and now she felt wrong about it; it “troubled her”. By her actions it shows she knew it was wrong; she listened to her radio until her maid came in, so she wouldn’t get caught.

In the end, readers are privy to the most private aspects in Irene’s life, as she is forced to face them. Irene’s quest for the apple from “the tree of knowledge” had her cast out of her paradise of a simple uncomplicated life. As Irene had been exposed to others private lives and found out things the tables turned on her. Her husband let out all her secrets, and this throws Irene into total self-destruction because she doesn’t know who might be listening. She can never hold her head up like she had before.

When Irene was supposed to be having regular days with friends, she found herself analyzing each person and wondering what their secrets were. She tried to piece together the information from the radio, to the person it was about. The simple knowledge wasn’t good enou

Some topics in this essay:
Irene Jim, Adam Eve, Abuse Dependency, Enormous Radio”, negative consequences, John Cheever’s, knowledge” cast paradise, irene’s life, knowledge” cast, stage described, private lives, irene jim, life irene, total self-destruction, people’s lives, radio started,