New York Cityappears in O City of Broken Dreams, Torch Song

New York City appears in the majority of Cheever's stories including "O City of Broken Dreams," "Torch Song," "The Sutton Place Story," "Clancy in the Tower of Babel," and "The Enormous Radio."

All of these stories take place in the 1920s and 1930s in various sections of the city. Some characters live in Greenwich Village and midtown Manhattan; others live in tenements, and still others live in more upscale locations such as Sutton Place. New York City has a mysterious air about it in this era, and the focus of many of the characters revolves around going out in the city, from dinner to drinks to dancing to the theater.

Most of the people in Cheever's stories, particularly those that live in New York, tend to be more liberal than the rest of the country. The women...