Coverly Wapshot’s Absurdity in John Cheever’s The Wapshot Chronicle

Abstract

This study discusses the absurdity of Coverly Wapshot, the main character, in John Cheever’s The Wapshot Chronicle. Theoretical ideas regarding absurdity proposed by philosophers such as Albert Camus and John Sutherland are employed. The objectives of the study are to demonstrate the absurdity of Coverly and to reveal the causes that drove him to perform the absurd actions. The study found that his absurdity was seen through his parents’ absurd stories. The chain of events, ranging from the family arguments to separation and running away from home, affected the absurd. In New York, the sudden cause of the absurdity is the anxiety caused by the lack of money, including becoming lonely and losing a job. The study argues that absurdity can be found when ill-prepared humans are trapped in the world that is modernized.