"The Summer Farmer" (The Stories of John Cheever)

Fun with Literary Criticism

Independence Day depicts space vaginas opening up to castrate phallic towers. In order to defeat the space vaginas, the men must find their manhood. Will Smith marries the stripper. Jeff Goldblum gives the mothership a virus. Bill Pullman makes a big speech and decides to kill them all. Randy Quaid, probe rape victim, symbolically assaults the alien ship while yelling “Up yours!!!”

This is how my ADHD brain helps me to enjoy a boring movie.

“The Summer Farmer” is a boring story. Yes. John Cheever is better and weirder than his reputation, but not every story can be “The Swimmer.”

In the spirit of Independence Day via Freud, I present ADHD friendly readings for “The Summer Farmer.” Feel free to steal for a term paper.

CIA Propaganda

According to an adorable conspiracy theory, the CIA funded MFA programs to win American literature back from Communists. Now every writing program teaches “sensation, not doctrine.” Goodbye Steinbeck. Hello Carver. We can happily blame the same group that overthrew Allende and propped up the Shah for John Updike's erectile dysfunction stories.

Paul Hollis is an American. He's a hardworking rustic capitalist who drinks Scotch, works in an office. He spends his weekend at the farm because American individualism requires commitment. His wife doesn't understand him and his sister drinks. Doesn't matter. Paul still protects them from Communism in the form of Kasiak.

Kasiak is a joke, so dumb that he doesn't realize that Paul is mocking him when he asks about the revolution. Kasiak reports working all the time under Communism but still believes - because he's stupid. When Kasiak dares bring Communist propaganda to Paul's home, Paul angrily refuses his overture. America. Fuck yeah.

Kasiak can't even own a decent horse. Paul rents Kasiak's horse for $4 and it doesn't even work. Paul wants to whip it but Kasiak won't allow him. A true Stalinist, Kasiak can only work one way. Kasiak's horse is a dud like all Soviet products. Kasiak won't even give the horse a name because Communists are cold and unnatural.

When Paul pushes Kasiak for killing his rabbits, Kasiak isn't even responsible. Paul has lost his principles, just as America needed to abandon its principles. How else could we win the Cold War?

Manly Men being Men

Paul will never be a real man like Kasiak. Yes, he fought in WWII and drinks Scotch and farms, but Kasiak is working from morning to sundown. Kasiak knows how to drive a horse. Kasiak's name invokes Cossack, the manliest of the Soviet peoples.

An aside. Non-Jews do not necessarily recoil in horror from the word Cossack. Their ancestors weren't murdered or raped by Cossacks. If a Cossack came to their house, they'd leave it intact. They wouldn't even break a window. As far as the non-Jews are concerned, the Cossacks are a simple people who drink wine, curse and hunt pheasant.

When Paul, a soft man living a life of quiet desperation, encounters a real man, he hires the man to work his farm. He can't do it on his own. His wife hates him. His sister denigrates him for not being their father. He uses mockery as a weapon against insecurity. When it comes time to drive a horse, he's woefully unqualified. No wonder Kasiak predicts that this is his last summer on the farm. How could he ever return with his masculinity so decimated?

He can't even start a proper fight. When he pushes Kasiak, Kasiak pities him too much to fight back.

Tell me about the Rabbits, George

Of Mice and Men was a literary sensation in 1937. This story, published in 1949, serves as a mirror image. Instead of two farmer workers seeking work, we have a privileged office worker working his family farm. Steinbeck's heroes are lumpen proletariats. Cheever's protagonists are boojie as fuck. Even the Communist owns a farm and profits from renting out his horse. Steinbeck gives us a tragic violent ending. Cheever concludes with vague dissatisfaction.

Either way, the rabbits are fucked.

When Paul and his wife buy the rabbits, were they paying George? George did something after killing Lennie. Might as well buy that rabbit farm, a failing rabbit farm since he's selling his children's pets. Had the poor doomed rabbits survived the weekend, Paul's wife would have given them to Kasiak for food.

Consider “The Summer Farmer” and Of Mice and Men as two installments in American Capitalism. Prequels to The Purge movies. The Purge argue that capitalism sucks no matter where you are on the social hierarchy. You could be profiting from the purge or you could lose your business due to purge insurance premiums. Either way, you lose. You will struggle. You will envy the winners. You might win for a time, but it will grind you up. And kill your rabbits.

WWII Analogy

Paul is wearing his military coveralls with his name, rank and serial number. In essence, Paul is replaying his soldier days alongside Kasiak. For a few hours, Capitalism and Communism work together. Paul even asks Kasiak about Communism. Russia suffered massive death and essentially won the war at Stalingrad, yet America takes all the credit. Kasiak has been on the farm for years. Paul just shows up on the weekends and expects similar accolades.

Tensions arise when Kasiak and Paul need to work together They both believe that they know the right way, but Paul accedes to Kasiak, just like the United States let Russia invade Eastern Europe.

The story ends with Paul and Kasiak losing their temporary truce. Before Paul's wife admits to killing the rabbits, Paul blames Kasiak. The Cold War would see America damaging its civil liberties and its international reputation. As long as Paul can blame Kasiak, he doesn't have to deal with this family.

Prophecy for Social Media

No. This one doesn't work. Sorry.

I think we're done.