Innocence, Ignorance, and Knowledge Theme Analysis

Irene and Jim Westcott are a sheltered couple who have constructed picturesque lives by choosing to remain ignorant of certain harsh truths. A new radio, however, reveals secrets about their neighbors and exposes the Westcotts’ to the stark realities and moral dilemmas of others’—and, eventually, their own—lives. Ultimately, the radio forces the Westcotts to end their constructed sense of innocence: it catalyzes a fight that reveals their own unspoken, terrible secrets. In Cheever’s story, knowledge forces individuals to abandon their willful ignorance and to become irrevocably self-aware. What’s more, once innocence and ignorance are lost, they can never be regained.

From the beginning of the story, Cheever contrasts the the radio, a symbol of knowledge and communication, with the Westcotts’ deliberate obliviousness. Irene Westcott has a “forehead upon which nothing at all had been written,” a description that emphasizes her guilelessness: she is seemingly unaware of—and unmarred by—stress. Jim is described as an “earnest” man who wears “the kind of clothes his class had worn at Andover,” a boarding school. Jim deliberately dresses like a schoolboy, as a way of playing up his childlike qualities. The Westcotts have cultivated their appearance to seem innocent, in order to emphasize their unawareness of the world and its pressures.

When the Westcotts purchase a new radio, however, the machine acts as a corrective to the Westcotts’ calculated naivety. It “stands among [their] intimate possessions like an aggressive intruder,” illustrating how the radio interferes with the Westcotts “carefully” curated image. Irene then adds that “violent forces” seem “snared” in the radio; her portrayal hints further at how the radio is a disturbance to the Westcotts’ peace. The radio’s description implies its ability to disrupt the cultivated tranquility of the Westcotts’ life and home. Additional descriptions of the radio emphasize its omniscience and power. The radio seems to possess a “sensitivity to discord,” indicating that it perceives and thrives on the chaos of the outside world. Furthermore, the radio is described as something that cannot be mastered; this description illustrates how the radio, again a means of communication and awareness, is an inescapable transmitter of knowledge and “discord.”

Irene’s “life” before the radio is purposefully “simple and sheltered,” but when the radio exposes the problems faced by her neighbors, her outlook changes. She hears “brutal language,” which “astonishe[s] and trouble[s] her.” Moreover, the radio makes Irene increasingly mistrustful: when she has lunch with a friend, she wonders about her friend’s hidden secrets. Irene’s innocence, however cultivated, has been erased by her exposure to the radio. Even her most personal relationships, which she had not questioned previously, have become doubt-ridden.

Eventually, Irene overhears her neighbor Mr. Osborn “beating his wife.” She exclaims that “life is too terrible, too sordid,” illustrating how the radio has destroyed her carefree worldview. She attempts to cling to her prior ignorance, and begs Jim to confirm that, unlike their neighbors, they are “good and decent and loving.” Despite Jim’s reassurance, however, Irene has become inescapably aware of her peers’ cruelty. As a result of this newfound knowledge, Irene begins to change her behavior. Jim notes how Irene acts “sad and vague,” and highlights her unfamiliar “look of radiant melancholy.” Irene’s sadness demonstrates how her purposefully “simple” life has changed; the radio has erased her willful ignorance, and introduced her to the quagmire of others’ lives.

The awareness Irene has gained from the radio is ultimately a burden. It prompts Irene to think not only about her neighbors’ lives, but also her own. Unfortunately for Irene, this introspection is inescapable; nevertheless, she attempts to return to her previous, oblivious behavior. For example, Irene asks Jim to confirm that, unlike her troubled neighbors, they are “happy.” Moreover, when she is given the opportunity to relinquish the radio’s power, she takes it gladly: a handyman fixes the radio, and Irene is “happy” to hear the radio playing “Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.” The radio’s repair provides a false sense of reprieve: it frees Irene from hearing about her neighbors, but cannot entirely return her to a state of ignorance.

This momentary respite does not last. Jim, angered by Irene’s behavior, starts a fight, and it is revealed that Irene’s obliviousness is an act cultivated to hide her past behavior. After telling Irene that he cannot maintain their lavish lifestyle, Jim confronts her about her supposed “virtue,” and claims he will “never forget” how she withheld money from her sister and stole her mother’s jewelry. The radio has forced Irene into a confrontation with Jim that destroys her pretense of innocence, and prevents her return to an easygoing state of unawareness. In this way, Cheever complicates the dynamic between knowledge, innocence, and ignorance: cognizance of others’ pain forces an individual to become less ignorant of the world, but ultimately, it is self-awareness that erases one’s innocence for good.

Distraught by this new self-awareness, Irene attempts—and fails—to reclaim her prior naivety one last time: she listens to the radio “hoping” it will “speak to her kindly.” Instead, the radio announces that a “railroad disaster in Tokyo” killed “twenty-nine people,” offering another dark view of the world. The radio then refuses to offer her respite, symbolizing the inexorable end of her innocence.

In Cheever’s story, then, the Westcotts are initially portrayed as characters who have cultivated an unwitting, protected worldview. Eventually, their new radio exposes the Westcotts to their neighbors’ struggles, and forces a confrontation between Irene and Jim that reveals Irene’s ruthlessness. Cheever’s story thus illustrates how willful innocence and ignorance cannot be maintained in the face of dawning knowledge and self-awareness.