"Clancy in the Tower of Babel": 05/08/25

"Clancy in the Tower of Babel" by John Cheever (1951) is set primarily in a high rise apartment in New York. James Clancy works as an elevator man and feels like the first line of defense for "The Building." Over the course of his work there he takes umbrage with one of the tenants, an antiques seller named Rowantree.

Rowantree like the Welsh nickname for the plant is a "lamenting fruit." He is a gay man who is outed by Clancy after a particularly drunken elevator ride. Clancy wants him evicted. Rowantree rightfully wants Clancy fired. Neither happens and Rowantree after losing his lover becomes suicidal.

Clancy knowing the smell of gas and knowing what gas collecting in an apartment building can do to a building is forced to go against his convictions and save Rowantree. It is after all of this both men come to an agreement.

"Clancy in the Tower of Babel" like the other John Cheever stories sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. The rivalry of Clancy and Rowantree puts them in a scarecrow/minotaur dichotomy of travelers (99). Both end up protecting the other while seeming monstrous to the other. Their destination is utopia (FF), an impossible version of the tower they work/live in. Their route is the interstate/railroad as represented by the elevator car (00).

Three stars

Comments (0)