Research Paper on:
Names Symbolism in 'A Country Husband' by John Cheever

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seven volumes of short stories offer virtually countless examples of character development and an attention to the development of both nuance and scene that allow a reader to fully enter  the world Cheever has crafted. His short story, "The Country Husband" (1954) provides numerous examples of such mastery, as well as an example of the grace of his writing style.  It is also one that he, on several occasions, described as having been truly satisfied with how it turned out. According to Dessner (1994), in a 1973 interview, Cheever talked  about what he referred to as the "seizure of lunacy when everything comes together. That is, of course, the most exciting thing about writing" and said he had experienced that  with the completion of "The Country Husband" (pp. 57). Symbolism and "The Country Husband" "The Country Husband" takes place in a perfect example of one of the many  comfortable suburbs Cheever regularly created for his characters. "Shady Hill" is the home of Francis Weed, his wife and their children. Francis has dangerously fallen in love and lost with  the Weed childrens 18-year-old baby-sitter, Anne. He is well aware of the potential for disaster such a situation offers, especially in self-righteously moral Shady Hill. Strangely enough, considering that description,  there is a great deal of humor in the story, not the least of which is the result of Weeds self-awareness and knowledge of the ridiculousness of his situation, as  well as the other events that take place that border on the absurd. For example, Weed considers possible options for action, exercising, making a religious confession for his desires, getting  a massage, or raping Anne. He makes a logical choice . . . woodworking in his basement. In an American suburb in the 1950s, woodworking was the most logical choice.