‘Roseheath’ by John Cheever

Roseheath by John Cheever, 1947

The magic trick:

Turning the tide on what is “weird”

“Roseheath” didn’t make the cut when John Cheever assembled the iconic greatest hits story collection that likely will live on as the definitive record of his writing career. And that’s a shame, because that exclusion puts it at great risk of disappearing for future Cheever readers. It’s a worthy highlight from his 1940s output.

The story captures the rigid attitudes of the early American suburbs. Our young couple, Dana and Ethel, repeat the same practiced lines in every conversation, they make racist comments about non-Americans, and they’re generally appalled by and terrified of anything that isn’t exactly how they think it should be.

The reader is invited into the story as the jury. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is weird?

Your judgment of course rests on your own values and point of view. But the story makes a great push in the closing scene, as one by one each character aligns against Ethel, who is left on her island of American middle-class consensus.

And that’s quite a trick on Cheever’s part.

The selection:

The mysterious Field or Fields family moved in in the spring. Ethel tried to discover who they were, but she was never even to be sure of their initials. The name was vaguely associated for her with actresses, cut-rate drugs, and orchestra leaders. “If you were going to make up a name,” she said, “it’s the sort of name you’d pick.” When the weather grew hot, Ethel would not swim at the crowded beach but sat on her scorched lawn and thought of Roseheath.

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