"The Pot of Gold": 05/01/25

"The Pot of Gold" by John Cheever (1950) is about two families Jonesing to to make it rich. Ralph and Laura Whittemore have lived in the city their entire married life and have always been one step away from hitting it big. But opportunity is fickle and it never quite works out for them.

Laura, now with a young child, meets the other mothers in the park. She sees Mrs. Holinshed there one day. She remembers her from a party they'd attended in the before the baby days. She remembers being a little envious of the older woman and her fur coat. Now, though, she can see how threadbare the the thing is and she begins to suspect that things aren't that good for the Holinsheds either.

When after years of trying and failing and realizing that none of their get rich schemes will ever work both couples are left with each other. There's just one big difference: the Whittemores despite all the struggles still love each other. It's not clear that the Holinsheds ever did.

As with the other Cheever stories, this one sits on the Road Narrative Spectrum. The travelers are two couples (33). Their destination is uhoria (a better future while looking at the things lost over time( (CC). Their route there is the cornfield as represented by the reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers that hangs over the sofa.

Three stars

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