An Analysis John Cheever’s Satirical Aspect of Suburb’s Family in John Cheever’s

The Worm in the Apple Short Story

A.    Introduction

Suburb’s live is identical with a nuclear family that busy with individual activities. Each family has no much time to spend with the other society. Almost of them spend their day boringly with only work-home cycle. They hardly ever have a quality time for family to spend. But, they also have some aspects of socialism that exist in their lives. In other word, it can be said that suburbans are people that struggling to face the chaos of modern world in a outskirt of a big city. In “The Worm in the Apple” short story by John Cheever, we find some satirical aspects that occur in realities of suburban’s live. It can be seem of how the surbubian spend their live. We found some ironic cases which occur  during the story. We can get some moral values from this story which initially derive from satires.

B.     Discussion

1.      Biography of John Cheever

He was born in Quincy, Massachutesetts on May 27, 1912. He was a second child of Frederick Lincoln Cheever and Mary Liley Cheever. He had an older brother. His father owned a shoe factory but it collapsed due to the gread depression of 1930s. His mother supported the family’s necesity by the profit of her gift shop.

He attended a a preparatory school in Braintree, Massachusetts. But he expelled from that school because of his bad attitude in his seventeenth. Due to this, he published his first work “Expelled”. After leaving school he toured Europe with his brother.

In the mid-1930s Cheever moved to New York City. He lived in a week boarding house on Hudson Street in Greenwich Village. He supported his own life by writing summaries for potential MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) movies. Then he assosiated with The New Yorker Magazine. In 1934 the magazine published the first of 119 Cheever stories.

On March 22, 1941, Cheever married Mary Winternitz. They had three children. He spent four years in the army during World War II (1939–45) and later spent two years writing television scripts for, among other programs, "Life with Father."

At the height of  success, he became an alcoholism. This was a problem he did not fully admit to until his family placed him in a rehabilitation center in 1975. Earlier, in 1972, he had suffered a massive heart attack.

John Cheever died of cancer on June 18, 1982. His final work, “Oh What A Paradise It Seems”, was published after his death.

2.      Society

The setting of place in this short story is in Shady Hills, a suburbia. It is a capture of suburbia society.

3.      Summary of the story

This story is about a nuclear family, Crutchmans’, Lary and Helen, who have two children, Tom and Rachel. They live in a suburb, named Shady Hill. The story opened by a capture of Crutchmans’ live place. It is told that they live happily in a big house on Hill Street. Lary serves for navy. But for days he is adrift at sea on a raft after his ship had been sunk by the enemy. Helen is the only one daughter of her father that inherited a good deal of money. She earns money larger than Lary can.

It is thought that the tragedy of navy can drive Lary to the nightmare, but actually he can sleep well. In other side, Helen, who has larger income that her husband, be thought that will have a bad behavior because of independence and damage the delicate balances within their marriage, but actually they do the live well, Helen spread her income among the charities and live with comfortable but modest live.

Helen loves her son badly. She gives and buys everything for his happiness. And when she is favored her love to her son she is bound to discriminate her daughter.

Tom fails in his junior year of high school and has to repeat it. Many families which have beutiful daughter want Tom to be their son-in-law, he actually has so many girl friends during his education time, but  in his second year in college he announced his engagement to Elizabeth Trustman and they were married after his graduation. And finally he go to Germany to study his post and serve his time in the army.

It is different for Rachel. After she lost her weight, she become a beautiful girl. She married a German gardener’s son, Eric Reiner. Though her parents are not quiet agree with Rachel’s choise, but they concelead their feelings and let her to be married. Eric gets some scholarship to continue his study untill he reaches his Ph.D. in physics and then he come to be a teacher and live happily with Rachel in Cambridge.

Finally both of Lary and Helen enjoy their old age in Shady Hill and become richer and richer with Helen’s company and they live happily.

4.      Analysis

Satire, as Hutcheon describes, is didactic and extramural, like a lesson; it has a target related to something outside the story. Satire has a moral to tell. Satire is a literary form in and of itself, but it also can qualify, or be qualified by, other forms

The story is settled in a suburbia. It capture the ordinary live of an suburban. We find some of the narator speculations in the story and sometimes occur with some questions form. The ironies that the hypothesis of the narator have opposite realities that occur in the story.

We can see some moral value that exist in a surbubans’ live, and it is criticized by the author by this story. We also know that less or more the author’s life influence this story.

Example:

·         It is a similar case of nuclear family in “The worm in the Apple” and in his real life.

·          And also has a similar case when John cheever’s mother supports his family life with the case in the story that Helen earn a higher income that his husband can.

A suburb is a residential area, either existing as part of a city (as in Australia and New Zealand, and generally in the United Kingdom) or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city (as in the United States and Canada). Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods. Suburbs first emerged on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of improved rail and road transport, which led to an increase in commuting. Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities that have an abundance of adjacent flat land.

There are two general rules of conduct in suburbia, writes Baumgartner. First, suburbanites do not publicly take notice of a neighbor's activities. They make no moral judgments of a member of the community; in other words, "they mind their own business." Second, the suburbanite does not make public his or her own private activities. One is not supposed to be a nuisance to anyone else in the process of ignoring them. As a result, suburbs are considered peaceful, or boring, places because in an effort to not enact judgment on each other, households rarely interact with each other. Baumgartner finds that the primary rule in the moral order of a suburb is neglect. For example, in his study of a New York City suburb, when a member of a neighborhood did raise the ire of its inhabitants, neighbors rarely complained, and indeed would suffer all kinds of disturbances, such as loud cars or bright lights, for years without protesting to anyone.

The satirical aspects:

a)      We can see some satircal aspects of the boring life of the suburban beacuse of their indivisualism of over emphasis on the independence. We can see that John doesn’t give much social interactions inside this story.

Evidence: Crutchmans’ family always do their life hapily during the life without any heavy problem occured.

“The Crutchmans were so very, very happy and so temperate in all their habits and so pleased...”(Page 1, Pgh. 1)

“They moved happily out to Shady Hill after the war. Larry had served in the Navy. They had two happy children: Rachel and Tom”(Page 1, Pgh 3)

“He could have gone into industry at a higher salary but he liked to teach and Rachel was happy in Cambridge, where they remained.” (Page 4, Pgh 1)

“...they got richer and richer and richer and lived happily, happily, happily, happily.”( Page 4, pgh 2)

b)      We can also seem John critizes the flat live of suburban

Evidence: The author give some ironies speculation and hypothesis that have the opposite realities in the story.

“The dangers in this situation are well-known. Since Larry did not have to make a living — since he lacked any incentive — he might take it easy, spend too much time on the golf links and always have a glass in his hand. Helen would confuse financial with emotional independence and damage the delicate balances within their marriage. But Larry seemed to have no nightmares and Helen spread her income among the charities and lived a comfortable but modest life”(Page 1, pgh 2)

5.      Conclusion

I as the reader of the story can conclude that John Cheever has so many satirical aspects for the suburban’s life in this story. First he criticized the over-emphasize on independence of suburban’ life. Then the second, he criticized the flat life of the suburban’s life.

6.      References

http://assyoungnurasiyah.blogspot.com/2012/06

http://www.wikipedia.com/john_cheever.

http://www.wikipedia. com/suburban.

http://suite101.com/article/book-review-the-stories-of-john-cheever-a228488#ixzz1zT0bcCFs

Whisper

Willingly let it go, bringing the sorrow...
Much too much, more and more, wish i wish...
Blame the destiny...for all my entity...
Push me to the top...then drive me till i drop...
Nothing to be done...totally i'm alone....

Out of the box

Allohu akbar...

Jika Engkau masih menyayangi aku ya Alloh, tolong hamba untuk keluar dari ketidakpastian hidup seperti ini. Dari semua penderitaan yang menghimpitku. Jika Engkau sudah tak menginginkanku ada lagi di dunia ini, buang hamba ya Alloh. Hamba siap...

Hamba hanya tak bisa terus menerus menahan cobaan yang bertubi seperti ini ya Alloh. Setelah Engkau mengambil seluruh orang yang hamba sayangi. Bukan dari dunia, tapi dari kehidupan hamba. 

Tak ada satupun orang yang bisa hamba sandari sebagai tempat keluh kesah ya Alloh, hanya Engkau...namun Engkau tetap diam dan tak memberiku jawaban atas semua ini ya Alloh.

Hamba ingin pergi dan lari saja dari kehidupan ini, sperti seorang pengecut. Hamba sudah tak kuat menahan sakit ini ya Alloh.

Hamba sudah cacat fisik,jangan kau jadikan juga hamba ini cacat iman....

Aku membutuhkan orang lain untuk menyandarkan diri kali ini... Aku begitu kalut dan kesepian saat ini. Entah apa yang bisa aku lakukan saat ini.

Nothing to loose

Selama ini aku selalu berusaha membuat orang tegar dan kuat, selalu berusaha membuat orang tersenyum tanpa memperdulikan perasaanku sendiri. Mereka yang selalu egois, memilih senyum mereka yang tertebar diatas hinaan dan cacian yang mereka lontarkan sebagai bahan canda. Mereka menganggap semua hal itu adalah hal yang wajar saja, suatu bayaran yang impas untuk sebuah kebahagiaan. Mereka, memperlakukan aku bukan selayaknya manusia, seperti biji yang busuk, tak akan pernah menjadi bunga.

Bahkan hal mustahil bagiku untuk bermimpi, agar omonganku mereka dengar. Bagi mereka, aku tak lebih dari sekedar kambing hitam, tempat tuk membuang keesalaahan. Aku selalu dijadikan peran antagonist dalam dunia ini, yang pada kenyataannya aku hanyalah sosokk protagonist yang pnuh derai air mata di notebookq sendiri.

Mereka yang berlindung dibalik jubahku, menggunakan kekuranganku untuk menyusun istana lenyamanan mereka sendiri. Tanpa suatu tedeng aling-aling mereka menghinakau secara nyata.

Tak ada sesuatu yang ikhlas disekitarku, semuanya serba munafik. Kenapa ini harus terjadi padaku? Salah apa aku pada mereka? Aku selalu berusaha membuat orang lain bahagia, tetapi kenapa mereka malah menjerumuskanku? Memanfaatkanku.

Masih adakah yang tulus didunia ini? Tak ada, sama sekali. Untuk apa aku harus bertahan didunia ini? Tidakkah kemuakanku akan kehadiranku sendiri didunia belum cukup untuk menendangku dari lapangan kehidupan ini...?

Apakah aku harus selalu menjadi hamster di sebuah lingkaran? Terus-menerus berlari tanpa beranjak sedikitpun dari tempatnya. Kehilangan tenaga namun tak mempunyai suatu perubahan sedikitpun.

Kenapa orang lain tak mau menghargai keberadaanku? Aku juga manusia, bagaimanapun jeleknya aku, aku punya jiwa dan raga untuk dianggap sebagai manusia juga, yang mempunyai hak hidup. Kenapa harus aku yang selalu memahami orang lain?

Hanya hadapi semua ini dengan senyuman?hal itulah yang bisa aku lakukan, tanpa memperdulikan bagaimana aku harus menghadapi semua itu sendirian. Semua orang berbeda, dan aku harus menerima perbedaan itu.

Aku sudah sering dibuang dan merasa terbuang, tak ada hal lain yang lebih menyakitkan dibanding kamu ada namun tak pernah dianggap ada, kamu dianggap ada, namun selalu disalahkan, itulah yang seharusnya kamu terima untuk semua kepahitan yang kamu dapat selama ini.

Cukup sudah ya teman...tak ada yang perlu ditangisi untuk sebuah kehilangan. Toh aku hanyalah secarik kertas putih ditumpukan fieldnote kalian, mengharapkan kalian memberikan coretan-coretan tentang perjalanan kehidupan walaupun hanya sebaris dua baris.

Nothing to loose.....

Help Me, My Guardian Angel

Hmmm....hatiku gundah lagi. Entah apa yang akan terjadi, ingin rasanya pergi lari dan menjauh dari dunia ini. Terlalu banyak masalah yang menumpuk, hingga aku merasa tak kuat lagi untuk melalui semua ini. Ya Alloh, tolong beri jalan untukl hambamu ini. Ingin menangis tapi merasa sudah kehabisan air mata ya Alloh. kirim aku malaikat pelindungMu ya Alloh, malaikat penolongMu.
Mereka semua menganggap aku ini kuat, namun mereka tak pernah sadar, aku begitu terluka dan rapuh.
Aku ingin kembali ke masa lalu, tapi ternyata tak ada yagn tersisa di masa itu. Akupun ingin melangkah maju, namu taliku terikat kuat ditempat ini.

Broken, again

Ya Alloh, kenapa mereka dengan mudah mengucap cinta...dan dengan mudah pula mereka bilang tak punya perasaan apa-apa?

Tahukan mereka bahwa hal ini sangat menyakitkan aku???Tahukah dia?bahwa aku tersenyum diatas perih dan kepahitanku???Aku terluka ya Alloh...

Tolong sembuhkan luka ini ya Alloh, tolong bantu aku untuk bangkit ya Alloh.

Ya Rabb, mana janjimu untuk segera menjemputku?Tak cukupkah jatuh bangun perjuanganku selama ini untuk berada disisiMu?

Kenapa Engkau membiarkanku hidup disini tanpa kebahagiaan?

Setelah Engkau mengambil satu persatu sumber kebahagiaanku??? Masihkah lama waktu itu ya Rabb?Masihkah lama waktuku untuk kembali padaMU?

Hari ini, hatiku sepi....seperti biasa. Rasa perih yang selama ini ingin aku lupakan, malah semakin subur kupupuk dengan duka dan kusiram dengan air mata...

Ya Alloh, aku ingin berhenti saja dari segala keajaiban fanaMu ini.....

 

Untuk cinta-cinta yang pernah singgah dalam hatiku...akankah kalian merasa kehilangan, jika nanti aku tak berada disamping kalian?

Apakah ini takdirku untuk selalu tersakiti oleh cinta?

Alangkah bahagianya, jika kalian merindukanku nantinya...

Jika aku mampu, aku ingin menjadi suatu keajaiban dalam kehidupan kalian...Ingin meninggalkan kebahgaiaan, kemudian menghilang tanpa kalian sadari bahwa aku telah pergi dari sisi kalian. Andai hidup ini adalah sebuah sinetron, yang bisa kutulis sendiri skenarionya...

Aku hadir dalam kehidupan kalian, saat kalian kehilangan cahaya rembulan dipekatnya malam....Kemudian kalian menyalakan aku...membiarkan aku bahagia telah ada sebagai penerang malam kalian...Walau kutahu, kebahgiaanku hanyalah semu. Karena aku akan terbakar sendiri oleh cahayaku, namun aku tetap ingin menyinari kalian...

Namun, ternyata kalian tak pernah tahu, dan tak mau tahu, tak mau memandang bahwa lilin itupun punya batas waktu dan jangkauan tuk bersinar, untuk menyala dan menerangi kalian. Hingga akhirnya, setelah kalian menemukan cahaya yang lebih terang, kalian akan memadamkan lilin itu, meniupnya dalam sekali helaan nafas. Tanpa peduli bahwa selama ini, dalam kegelapan dialah yang menemani kalian. Hingga saatnya, ketika malam datang lagi tanpa ada rembulan, kalian tidak akan menemukanku lagi....karena aku sudah menghilang, terbakar oleh perasaanku sendiri.

"Blow the candle, and you'll know that there is nothing left except the darkness."

Wanna be fine

Kenapa kamu datang lagi?ketika ku sudah bisa dan mencoba kuat tanpamu?

Yakinlah, aku cuma ingin yang terbaik. Aku tak ingin merusak sgala yang telah  aku bangun selama ini. Berbahagialah dengan dia. Karena aku hanya ingin melihat kamu dan orang yang kamu cintai bahagia. Yakinlah, bahwa aku bisa  tegar dan kuat tanpa kamu.

Aku sudah tak peduli dengan kebahagiaanku. Aku sudah tak peduli lagi dengan hatiku. Aku tak mau mengenal cinta lagi.

Kini aku ingin hidup untuk orang lain. Aku ingin ada untuk orang lain. Aku buang semua cita-cita kebahagiaan pribadiku, dan menggantinya dengan impian melihat senyum orang-orang terkasihku.

Aku tak peduli seberapa terlukanya aku, yang aku ingin  hanyalah melihat orang-orang disekitarku tertawa dan bahagia.

Aku telah belajar tentang keikhlasan dan kehilangan. Semuanya karena kamu.

Yakinlah, aku baik-baik saja. Karena dengan begitu aku bisa yakin kalau kau juga baik-baik saja.