John Cheever's Five-Forty-Eight

Meteorologist Edward Lorenz came up with a theory in 1963 that “A butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion ... eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet” as part of the chaos effect, or more commonly referred to as the butterfly effect to explain the occurrence of serendipity or zemblanity (when a series of events occur that are either beneficial or unpleasant). Although this hypothesis was originally for predicting the weather, it evolved into a philosophical idea that one single event can snowball into a series of events that will impact their lives. People tend to believe that they are in control of their own actions, but never ponder how their choices at that moment will affect them

The short story begins with a man named Blake leaving from work and doing his best to avoid Miss Dent, his former secretary. He fears that she may be following him and possibly, “she might be meaning to kill him.” (Cheever pg. 2). The author uses this quote to grab the reader’s attention and make them wonder what series of events would make his former secretary want to murder him. Cheever then uses a flashback to recount the first meeting between the two characters of the story and showcase where the butterfly effect begins. Blake was looking for a secretary and ultimately hired Miss Dent for her appearance of, “a dark woman who was slender and shy... Her dress was simple, her figure was not much, but her voice was soft and he had been willing to try her out,” (3) and decided to overlook her crude handwriting. Cheever’s used this quote to

This event is where the butterfly effect cocooned as Miss Dent began to stalk her former lover until she was able to catch up to him on the 5:48 train. Blake attempted to escape from her but she thought ahead and brought pistol to make sure had the most power in the encounter with the man who wronged her. The former secretary explained how she, “had a pistol and I’ll have to kill you and I don’t want to. All I want to do is to talk with you.” (7) Cheever’s used this quote to show how the intentions of Miss Dent were not about violence but rather talking out her problems with Blake. The gun created a shift in power for who was the dominant one in the relationship which forced the businessman to face the repercussions of his actions, something he had never done before. The shift in power can be found when the train stops at Shady Hill and Miss Dent understood that Blake may try to escape so she told him that she’s been, “planning this for weeks. I won’t harm you if you let me talk”