1. Courtney Spleen
Writing Sample
Analysis of John Cheever’s The Country Husband
Francis vs. Weed
“I had always heard yourentire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die” –Lester
Burnham (Kevin Spacey) from American Beauty
John Cheever’s compelling short story, The Country Husband, examines Francis Weed’s
life as it unravels after a near-fatal plane crash. He comes to realize that his life is not what he
wants. He desires more, but feels confined by his own expectations and the expectations of his
family and his community. The story is filled with underlying meaning, distinctive themes, and
significant symbols. However, what stood out the most was the motif of appearances versus
reality, and how the two perpetually oppose one another. The protagonist, Francis, is a perfect
example. The constant battle between his outward demeanor and his inner emotions drives the
story and highlights its central thematic element.
The story begins with the plane crash; a near-death experience that would challenge any
character to question his past. But Francis does not just question his life; he rebels against it.
Cheever illustrates this dichotomy right from the start with his name: Francis Weed. Francis is an
eloquent, classical name, while Weed is an ugly, wild plant that grows freely. His name is a direct
reflection of his struggle, a battle between the refined Francis and the coarse Weed. Francis
believes that he has appearances to live up to, especially in his community. Shady Hill is also an
exact reflection of its name, a town filled with shady people. They ignore the outside world and
are consumed with maintaining their own pristine image. When Francis returns from the crash, his
family could not care less, “Nine times out of ten, Francis would be greeted with affection, but
tonight the children are absorbed in their own antagonisms.” He says “daddy was in a plane crash
tonight” over and over but no one listens. When he goes to his eldest daughter, he finds her

2. reading a detestable magazine, but she proclaims “everybody reads True Romance” and “there
isn’t a girl in Helen’s class who doesn’t read it.” Her character is one example of how the town’s
inhabitants behave the same. When Francis tells her about his night she does not understand,
“because there wasn’t a drop of rain in Shady Hill.” For her nothing outside of Shady Hill is
important.
This flawless facade that Francis’s family, especially his wife, portrays publicly is clearly
evident in the great detail Cheever uses to describe their house. “Nothing here was neglected;
nothing had not been burnished. It was not the kind of household where, after prying open a stuck
cigarette box, you would find an old shirt button and a tarnished nickel.” He also goes into detail
about Julia, Francis’s wife. She is a shallow character whose priorities focus on being well liked
and attending the best parties. She checks her mail with “real anxiety, looking for invitations” but
still worries that she may miss a “more brilliant party somewhere else.” Francis hates this, calling
her “insatiable” and saying, “Her love of parties sprang from a most natural dread of chaos and
loneliness.” His emphasis on the taintless setting and Julia’s personality not only sets the scene,
but also clearly characterizes the type of people living in Shady Hill.
During the first party that Julia and Francis attend, more characters are introduced, pushing
Francis further into turmoil. While there, he recognizes one of the maids and remembers her from
his time in WWII. She was publicly humiliated for having a relationship with a German
commander, yet she is serving them drinks, as if nothing ever happened. Francis says he cannot
tell anyone because the people there “seemed untied in their tactic claim that there had been no
past, no war- that there was no danger or trouble in the world.” The entire community is
superficial, only concerned with social elite parties and ignoring the problems around them. They
hide their secrets and their pasts and pretend that nothing happened. Francis, too, admits that he
ignores his past, saying “it was perhaps his limitation that he had escaped it too successfully.” He

3. realizes that he and this woman both experienced the horror of war, yet neither of them
acknowledges it. She does the same thing now that she did for the German officer. Francis does
the same thing as everyone around him. It is the reality hidden by the façade. Here he is fully
Francis, letting his desire to maintain an acceptable appearance win. It is not until he takes the
babysitter, Anne, home that his actions begin to change.
To Weed, Anne is the exact thing he needs in life, a girl still untouched by the society
around her. She is young, beautiful and brings “a pang of recognition as strange, deep and
wonderful as anything in his life.” Anne is a turning point for him, opening his mind to hidden
passions. After their kiss, “the girl entered his mind, moving with perfect freedom through its shut
doors and filling chamber after chamber with her light,” and his fantasies begin to consume him.
Weed pictures them, “crossing the Atlantic” and “living in Paris.” However, his imagination
represses his longings and he thinks of something that would “injure no one, and he thought of
skiing.” In his head, he is going down the mountain, “seeking with ardor some simplicity of
feeling and circumstance.” Not even in his own mind does he feel safe from the eyes around him.
No one in Shady Hill would ever have these kinds of cravings. Skiing, on the other hand,
maintains his appearance of formality, so again, Francis prevails.
While most of Cheever’s characters highlight Shady Hill and their influence on Francis, a
few symbolize his hidden emotions, the Weed part of him. When Francis walks outside, Donald is
playing the “Moonlight Sonata.” Francis notices that he does this “nearly every night” and plays it
“rubato from beginning to end.” If he were strictly a man of Shady Hill, playing a song out of tune
would be unacceptable. Francis knows that through music, Donald is searching for passion, but he
has no sympathy and says it is “like an outpouring of tearful petulance, lonesomeness, and self
pity.” Then there is Clayton. At first glance, the reader thinks that Francis hates him because he is
going to marry Anne. However, it is Clayton’s bravery to leave Shady Hill that Francis hates. He

4. is not afraid to be honest, saying the “dovecotes are phony” and that people here “clutter up their
lives.” He spells it out clearly,
“What seems to me to be really wrong with Shady Hill is that it doesn’t have any
future. So much energy is spent in perpetuating the place- in keeping out undesirables, and
so forth- that the only idea of the future anyone has is just more and more commuting
trains and more parties. I don’t think that’s healthy.I think people ought to be able to
dream big dreams about the future. I think people ought to be able to dream great dreams.”
Francis is later asked to give a recommendation for Clayton but refuses, saying, “The kid’s
worthless.” Clayton is everything Weed wants to be, but Francis will not allow. He hates both
Donald and Clayton for the same reason, jealousy. He is envious that they are undaunted by
society’s conventions and act upon their convictions.
It is not until Francis runs into yet another mundane character, Mrs. Wrightson, that he
openly expresses his feelings. It is her spiel about her curtains that sets him off. Weed is rude and
says, “Paint them black on the inside and shut up.” Then he gets a “wonderful feeling,” and
realizes that his neighbors “were bores and fools.” The reader thinks here that Weed has won, that
he has finally been set free. Unfortunately, this does not happen. Julia yells at Francis for insulting
Mrs. Wrightson because they are now no longer invited to her party. It is her worst nightmare,
social banishment. He slaps her, resulting in her packing her bags. Cheever could have ended it
there, giving Weed exactly what he needed to escape, but he begs her to stay, saying that she
needs him. And as expected, she stays. In Shady Hill, all the “marriages were intact and
productive,” so how could she leave? It would not be appropriate. It would draw attention. The
next day, Francis sees a girl whom he believes to be Anne. However, it is not. His inability to
recognize the girl he “loves” makes him think. He believes he is “in trouble” and “had reached the
point where he would have to make a choice.” He has to choose, Francis or Weed?

5. It is “ten days later in Shady Hill” and “Francis is happy.” He decides to see a psychiatrist
who “recommends woodwork as a therapy.” Cheever’s ending is brilliant, bringing back all the
minor characters. He shows that everything goes back to status quo. He also, one last time, ties in
a symbol of who Francis is, and who he wished to be. There is a cat that is “sunk in spiritual and
physical discomfort” and is dressed in an outfit. This is Fancis, discomforted in his life, dressed by
his wife and the people around him to appear and act properly. The dog, Jupiter, a retriever, is an
“anomaly,” “out of place in Shady Hill,” and “gallant.” He runs around full of happiness and
freedom. This is Weed, the man who longs to act on passion and dreams.
Cheever’s memorable last line, “Then it is dark; it is a night where kings in golden suits
ride elephants over the mountains,” is poetic and completely different than the rest of his writing.
This reference to Hannibal, the king, ties in with a previous reference by the young couple who
had the party; “She makes me feel like Hannibal crossing the Alps.” To Francis, being “the king,”
being happy, meant remaining in his marriage and maintaining the façade of Shady Hill. Francis
may have won the battle, but the war will never end. Inside he will always yearn for more. His
cowardly attitude to find a middle ground between both his desires and his actual life makes the
reader hate him. It is exactly what Cheever wants. His criticism of the town and its residents
exposes their fake and pretentious lives. The ending dooms the characters to the fate of Shady Hill.
It is cynical and proves Cheever’s hatred towards this lifestyle, towards keeping up with
appearances. The work exemplifies perhaps man’s greatest inner struggle: Do we follow our
hearts, or do we succumb to the external forces of convention and subjugate our will to society?