what kind of themes in the story of the enormous radio

Consider the theme of Appearances Are Deceiving. Before being exposed to the rather tepidly seamy underbelly of average middle-class American existence thanks to the arrival of the magical radio, the neighborhood did not seem particularly shady to the Westcott couple. After being exposed to the actual indiscretions and the thoughts that could potentially lead to greater indiscretions, the façade falls apart. Cheever goes for something deeper than merely pulling back the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is not all he claims to be. The actual noir landscape that should only have assumed to have existed all along becomes in Irene’s fertile imagination now fueled by the truth a place where where all appearance is merely a shiny patina. The real curtain that is pulled back is not on the neighbors, but on Irene’s—and, by association, the reader’s—willingness to go nuclear on the idea that nobody is what they seem. Even more to the point: everybody is probably much worse than they seem.