548.

John Cheever’s “The Five-Forty-Eight” is a thrilling short story about love, heartache, and power wrapped into a narrative about catching a train home. Blake, an affluent businessman, is self-absorbed and oblivious to women’s feelings. He is consumed by outward appearances and external affairs, therefore leaving no room in his thought process for sympathy or compassion. Miss Dent, his “ex-secretary”, points out that Blake knows nothing at all about loving any person but himself. This is a story of realization not for the narrator but for Miss Dent, his seemingly psychopathic stalker.

At the beginning of the story, Cheever gives the reader the impression that Miss Dent is not a stable character. Immediately after Blake leaves work, she begins to follow him. Blake, though uncomfortable that he is being followed, does not seem concerned. In his mind he decides, “She was not clever. She would be easy to shake.” (4) After ducking into the men’s bar, his fear vanishes. He is no longer being pursued and he has regained control over the situation. Power to Blake is very comforting. His relationship with Miss Dent begins because he perceives her lonely, dark disposition. (6) She is not the only woman that he has pursued for this reason. In fact, “Most of the many women he had known had been picked for their lack of self-esteem.” (8) Blake exerts his power over Miss Dent by sleeping with her and then proceeding to fire her, doing both with a clear conscious. When Blake relates the tale of conquering Miss Dent, a whole new side of this seemingly “insignificant man” (4) is revealed.

With the progression of the story, Miss Dent denies Blake the power that he needs so fervently by seizing control of the situation. Once Blake is confined to his seat on the local train, he is obliged by Miss Dent’s pistol to hear her out. As the two passengers reach the stop for Shady Hill, Miss Dent gives Blake precise directions to follow. She then orders Blake to kneel down to a position of subservience and pushes his face into the dirt. Miss Dent does not need to shoot Blake as she threatened. Instead, she feels better just knowing that she put him in the same position of vulnerability in which he had once placed her. With a sense of relief, Miss Dent says, “Now I can wash my hands of you, I can wash my hands of all this, because you see there is some kindness, some saneness in me that I can find and use.” Herein lies her realization: no doctor or hospital could cure her; the only way to remedy her ailments was to confront the man who caused them. By not killing Blake, Miss Dent proved to be the stronger character of the two. She found the strength to walk away satisfied with herself and unconcerned with Blake. This surprise ending shows the complete role reversal that occurs between Blake and Miss Dent.

Reflecting back on “The Five-Forty-Eight”, it is clear that Blake and Miss Dent’s role reversals were not sudden, but rather consistent throughout the story. Blake describes Miss Dent as a woman with very few redeemable qualities. He makes her seem lonely, desperate, weak, and out of her mind. However, Blake is actually the more unredeemable character. He mistreats women and uses sex as a form of power. Blake is also a coward. He fires Miss Dent, refuses to take her phone calls, and runs from her in the streets instead of confronting her like the powerful man that he wishes to be. Blake is so self-obsessed that he doesn’t even consider the effect that his actions are having on other people. Nothing in his world is internalized; all he seems to think about are his rainy shoes or the posters outside the train windows. After sleeping with Miss Dent, Blake feels “too contented and warm and sleepy to worry much about her tears.” (8) Instead of comforting her, Blake preoccupies himself with the “hideously scrawled letters” (9) of her handwriting. Perhaps the best example of Blake’s oblivious existence is the last paragraph of the story. He has just been forced to the dirt, threatened at gunpoint, and then finally released. Where other people might then realize their shortcomings, Blake “got to his feet and picked up his hat from the ground where it had fallen and walked home.” (64)

Blake’s “lack of a revelation” is not important to Miss Dent’s recovery. She was once a woman who wrote, “Dear Husband…I dream about you every night. I have such terrible desires.” (49) By the end of the story, though, Blake could tell “she had forgotten him.” (64) Therapy is different for every individual. However, as this story points out, achieving redemption and healing begins by acknowledging the problem.

Discussion:

Did the ending surprise you? Was it different than you expected it to be?

What is the purpose of having Blake tell the story?

Although the author is male, can you pick out any feminist ideals in his writing?

Do you think Miss Dent’s psychotic tendencies stem from a real disease or from the way that Blake treats her?

What is the importance of Miss Dent’s letter to Blake? Do you think she wrote it recently or just after she slept with Blake?

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