548 Boot Camp (JC)

English AP
Ms. Clapp
Five-Forty-Eight
Blake a typical womanizer or just a guy trying to make it out in the world? In the short story “The Five-Forty-Eight”, by John Cheever Blake’s character demonstrates to have uncaring and insensitive qualities towards women. His personality is what determines how he treats others and communicates with those around him.
John Cheever makes the character Blake exemplify the typical norm of a man using a women. A man at the work force and women at the work face having inter office relationship can only end badly. In Blake’s case it went as bad as it could get. Miss Dent a lunatic women working in the same business mixed pleasure with business. Blake used her for sexual relations and soon after finding out what a mishap he had caused. By using Miss Dent he showed no compassion for her and no sympathy for her case because soon after he had her dismissed from work. Blake let Miss Dent go like yesterdays trash another useless piece of material in his world. His character shows to be somewhat of a uncaring, not at all thoughtful of feelings, and careless. Blake demonstrates all these characteristics when he decides to fire Miss Dent. He used her, fired her, and then didn’t think much about it until it physically affected his well being.
Blake mistreated a person coming out of a hospital for problems that were not clearly explained. However, he knew that she had been hospitalized but failed to figure out why as well. He therefore used a mental patient and didn’t think of the outcome. Blake’s personality is very careless because he did not use his mentality to understand why she was the way she was, this being so it backfired onto him. When Miss Dent is fired she gets very ill and does not leave her home for three or more months. She plans for many things to happen to Blake and tells him this when she threatens to take his life. Blake for the first time cared that something could possibly happen to him. It seemed as even for a moment that he might get an epiphany and change his morals. However, when his life is on the line and Miss Dent in a cold and psychotic way makes him dig his face into solid dirt he is scared but it did not change his view. He got out alive and walked home. When he walked home his carelessness and same womanizing traits did not evolve and change they stayed the same and for him life went on living.
John Cheever uses Blake to show his readers how a flat character works. A flat character like Blake did not change even after a life changing experience. He has significant traits, however, they all evolve around the same narcissistic, heartless, and centered personality. He cares about one thing and that is about his own being. When his being is at stake he feels the slight change and even gave the readers the feel of a sympathetic view towards him, however soon after this view is distorted. For instance Blake says “Most of the many women he had known had been picked for their lack of self-esteem. “ He talks about women as if he went into a store and hand picked the ones that would be easy. Blake is an omniscient narrator and he showed his readers just how much of a heartless man he was being. Right then he characterized everything that fit his category which was an uncaring womanizer that is selfish towards others feelings. In which proved how Blake’s character exemplifies one of a uncommunicative heartless womanizer.