Metamorphoses by John Cheever
"Metamorphoses" by John Cheever is a collection of four interconnected sketches that explore themes of transformation, despair, and the complexities of human relationships. The first sketch introduces Larry Actaeon, a banker whose life spirals into chaos after discovering an unsettling scene at work. His subsequent actions lead to a surreal series of encounters that culminate in a tragic end. The second sketch focuses on Orville Betman, a commercial singer whose passionate love for Victoria Heatherstone results in heartache and loss after a tragic accident separates them. Cheever's third narrative centers on Mrs. Peranger, a domineering social figure whose manipulation of her daughter’s romantic life ultimately leads to tragedy and a haunting legacy. Lastly, the fourth sketch follows Bradish, a man attempting to quit smoking, whose obsessive thoughts about tobacco lead him into absurd and destructive behavior. Together, these sketches portray the fragility of identity and the often tumultuous nature of personal connections, reflecting Cheever's keen observations of mid-20th-century American life.
On this Page
Metamorphoses by John Cheever
First published: 1963
Type of plot: Fable
Time of work: The 1960's
Locale: New York City, its suburbs, and upstate New York
Principal Characters:
Larry Actaeon , an investment bankerMrs. Vuiton , another partner in Actaeon's firmOrville Betman , a singer in television commercialsVictoria Heatherstone Betman , his wifeMrs. Peranger , a society matronNerissa Peranger , her daughterBradish , a New Yorker intent on stopping smoking
The Story
"Metamorphoses" consists of four related sketches. In the first, Larry Actaeon is a partner in the New York investment-banking firm of Lothard and Williams. One day he charges into Lothard's office to find Lothard and another partner, the stunningly beautiful Mrs. Vuiton, naked. From that point, "Some nameless doom seemed to threaten his welfare." Going into a bar to kill time before a directors' dinner meeting, he is almost attacked by a dachshund belonging to one of the regular customers. The bartender tells him that the dog is there every day but has never so much as barked at anyone. Arriving at the apartment house where the meeting is to be held, Actaeon is mistaken for a delivery person by the elevator operator. At the dinner meeting, no one seems to notice this boisterous, energetic man who is accustomed to commanding attention. The conductor on Actaeon's train home thinks that he recognizes the banker as a waiter. Arriving home, Actaeon is set on and apparently killed by his dogs.
Orville Betman, in the second sketch, is a singer in television commercials: "Whatever he praised in song—shoe polish, toothpaste, floor wax—hundreds and thousands of men and women would find his praise irresistible. Even little children heeded his voice." Betman falls in love with Victoria Heatherstone the first time he sees her, and he tells her that he wants to marry her. She eventually succumbs to his pursuit of her but cannot marry him because she thinks that her invalid father, an Anthony Trollope scholar, will die if she leaves him. When the old man has a stroke, is told by his physician to leave the city, and moves to Albany, Betman and Victoria marry, but she keeps the marriage secret from her father and spends every summer with him at Temple Island near Lake St. Francis. One summer, Betman is overwhelmed by his love for his wife and goes to retrieve her. When a maid refuses him entry, he begins singing an air by George Friedrich Handel, and Victoria comes to him. Although she says that her father is dying, Betman begs her to come with him, and she does. Because he loves her so much, her smile distracts him; their car veers into the wrong lane and is crushed by a truck; she is killed. Betman goes on singing in commercials.
The third sketch is the story of Mrs. Peranger, who dictatorially rules the social life of her community, wielding "the power of rudeness so adroitly that she was never caught in an exposed position, and when people asked one another how she got away with it they only increased her advantage." A widow, her only son dead, Mrs. Peranger lies about the beauty and accomplishments of her daughter, Nerissa, a "wasted spinster of thirty," who seems "burdened with the graceless facts of life." Nerissa constantly falls in love with janitors, mechanics, and tree surgeons only to have her outraged mother end her romances. After they swim in the marble swimming pool built by her grandfather, Nerissa falls in love with a veterinarian. When Mrs. Peranger uses her influence to have the veterinarian's hospital closed, grief-stricken Nerissa dies. A few weeks later, Mrs. Peranger begins hearing Nerissa's voice from her daughter's beloved pool: "Mother, Mother, I've found the man I want to marry."
In the final sketch, Bradish decides to stop smoking and almost immediately begins to see himself as "more sagacious, more comprehensive, more mature." The next day, however, Bradish becomes obsessed by what he has given up. At a cocktail party, he sees a young woman as having hair the color of Virginia tobacco, wraps his legs around her, and buries his face in her hair until he is pried loose. Everyone he encounters looks and smells like some variety of cigarette, cigar, or pipe. His final undoing is mistaking a child for a Lucky Strike: After attacking her, he is arrested.
Bibliography
Bloom, Harold, ed. John Cheever. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004.
Bosha, Francis J., ed. The Critical Response to John Cheever. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.
Byrne, Michael D. Dragons and Martinis: The Skewed Realism of John Cheever. Edited by Dale Salwak and Paul David Seldis. San Bernardino, Calif.: Borgo Press, 1993.
Cheever, Susan. Home Before Dark. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
Coale, Samuel. John Cheever. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1977.
Collins, Robert G., ed. Critical Essays on John Cheever. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982.
Donaldson, Scott. John Cheever: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1988.
Donaldson, Scott, ed. Conversations with John Cheever. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1987.
Meanor, Patrick. John Cheever Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1995.
O'Hara, James E. John Cheever: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1989.
Waldeland, Lynne. John Cheever. Boston: Twayne, 1979.