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Nicole Harlan
ENGL 263.W1
Professor Sanders
25 March 2016
Critical Response #2
John Cheevers The Enormous Radio and Octavia Pazs My Life with the Wave have
characters that are thrown into the world of magical realism without even realizing it, until they
are too deep. The characters in these stories, Irene Westcott and the man, have many similarities
and differences that make them easy to compare and contrast. These characters counterparts, Jim
Westcott and the wave, have also similarities and differences that make the story complete.
Irene Westcott is a woman that received a radio from her husband to pass the time. In the
beginning, the radio did not transmit the music she wanted and it instead transmitted different
unpleasant sounds. After many times of complaining, her husband had it fixed. However, Irene
started to hear voices come through the device instead of sounds now. To her pleasant surprise, it
was her neighbors that she was eavesdropping on. While she loved the drama that the radio
provided, she quickly became upset at the horrible events her neighbors were experiencing. The
story did not end happily as her husband called her out on all of her wrongdoings over the years.
This led to Irene getting rid of the radio once and for all, and hopefully fixing her own personal
flaws.
The man in My Life with the Wave befriended a wave that started to live with him. Their
relationship progressed rapidly and passionately. However, the wave started destroying the
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relationship and home where she lived with the man. The wave acted out in anger because of her
loneliness and was unconnected with the mans world. The relationship between the two ended in
a tragic matter, with the man freezing the wave. The waves life comes to an end when she
became ice cubes to fill up drinks.
The similarities between the stories and the characters are high. For one, both stories end
in a tragedy, however it is a bittersweet one. Irene becomes so upset with the events around her
that she lashes out. Her husband gets sick with her wailing and points out her own flaws. Irene
comes back to reality to discover her marriage and family is not all that different than her
neighbors whom she eavesdropped on. My Life with the Wave has a bittersweet ending as well.
The relationship between the two turns unhealthy quickly and leads the man to throw the wave
out of his life forever. The waves demise was being frozen by her lover and her death was used
for another purpose in life. The man in the story felt little to no remorse of her being out of his
life.
Irene and the man were led into magical realism by their partners in the stories. Irenes
husband, Jim, purchased the radio for entertainment for her and the wave followed the man
home. The similarities between Irene and the man in the other story outweigh the differences.
They both progressed into the real of magic quickly without any heed to repurccsionis at all.
While they both enjoyed the experience of it, reality came back forcefully and all at once for
them. Jim Westcott and the wave are similar in personalities as well. They both, unknowingly,
led their partners into the world of magical realism. Jim was the one who bought the radio for his
wife and the wave followed the man out of the ocean and into his home and life.
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The third similarity between the characters in the story are the lives of the men. Jim is
desperate at the end of the story stating Im sick to death of your apprehensiveness (Cheever
321).Even though Jim brought the radio for Irene out of niceness, at the end he regretted his
actions. The man in the wave story has a negative connotation as well stating, I begin to fear
and hate her (Paz 308). The two men in the stories were the ones that brought their lovers back
into the real world and out of magical realism. Jim and the man both wanted a relationship with
their lovers, however the objects that brought their lovers joy ultimately tore them apart. Jim
despised the radio and how it made Irene passive in her life. The man despised the wave herself
since she was not of his world and became violent at the end.
The conflict resolution that the two men displayed contrasted greatly. One man tried to
work through the everyday problems that marriage brought and the other got so fed up he sold
her off for her to be another purpose in her death. Jim seemed to let Irene indulge in her fantasies
and surrender[ed] his resentment at her insistent questioning of being a happy couple (Cheever
320). His resentment towards her builds and spills over once he found out about the money that
she has been spending. Like any other married couple, financial issues happened between Irene
and Jim. His frustrations with her current lifestyle boiled over once he saw she hasnt paid [her]
clothing bills yet (Cheever 320). While Jim tried to influence Irene on spending money more
wisely in the future, she shut him down stating, Theyll hear us (Cheever 320). Jim lost his
temper at her retort and the stories ends with his shouting and the radio talking about the
forecast.

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The man in My Life with the Wave reacted differently to his lovers aggression and the
situation he was in. While he had a passionate affair with her for a short time, When [he] came
to [his] senses, [he] began to fear and hate her (Paz 308). The man began to leave her alone at
prolonged periods, each one becoming longer than the last. Because of the mans absence, the
female wave became more restless During the day she isolated herself in her corner, she
endlessly howled (Paz 308). The relationship between the two quickly became unhealthy and
at the end of a month. [He] had decided to end their tumultuous affair (Paz 309). The female
wave was frozen by the marble in his household, and he was unmoved by her wearisome
beauty (Paz 309). The man was easily amazed by her beauty in the beginning, yet after she
showed her true colors and was separated from her true life, he soon lost all interest in her and
her beauty. The story ends with him selling her to a waiter, who immediately began to chop her
into little pieces, which he carefully deposited in the buckets where buckets are chilled (Paz
309).
The women in both stories have their similarities and differences just as the men do.
While both in relationships, they were the ones causing the most problems for their partners.
While Irene was passive and internalized her problems, the wave was aggressive and
externalized her problems. Irene was so involved in her neighbors lives she did not live out her
own life. It was not until Jim yelled at her, Why are you so Christly all of a sudden? that she
snapped out of her reverie and back to her life (Cheever 321). Before Jim called her out on her
own flaws, she was obsessed with making sure Were happy, arent we, darling? (Chhever
320).
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The wave was opposite of how Irene handled her problems. The waves aggression and
her unhappiness with her life led to her scream[ing] every night (Paz 308). Although She
complained of solitude, nothing the man did helped her current situation (Paz 308). The man
brought her everything that would remind her of the sea, which is where she belonged. The little
gifts that he hoped to appease her days of fury [were] shipwrecked and were never enough to
calm her down (Paz 308). The man even brought were fish to keep her company. While this
solution solved her loneliness, the man was overcome with jealousy at the special relationship
the wave shared with the fish. His anger towards the fish ended with a near-drowning accident
for the man since he threw [himself] on them (Paz 308). She saved him from death but told
him that he would never understand her and the fish.

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Works Cited
Cheever, John. The Enormous Radio, and Other Stories. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1953.
Print.
Paz, Octavia. My Life with the Wave. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1997. Print.