Magill Book Reviews reviewed The Five-Forty-Eight in February 1990. This review talks about the plot and about the character Blake. The review describes Blake's confidence as based on his own "Self-Importance" and nothing more substantial than acting on the "sumptuary laws" of the upper/middle class. The review explains Miss Dent's need to reclaim some of the self-respect she had lost sleeping with Blake. Also, by accomplishing her task of following Blake home to Shady Hill, she had taught him a lesson, and had been more dignified and merciful than Blake. The review questions whether Blake learned his lesson at the end of the story. It is also explained that Blake might be Cheever's most unlikable character, and is remarkable for his callous attitude towards others. He also confuses the sumptuary laws, moral obligations, and human responsibilities he lives by.[8]
Quentin Martin writes about the images within The Five-Forty-Eight. He explores multiple examples of imagery within the story. First he writes about when Blake was walking in downtown Manhattan and turns to see a plate of glass. Inside that was a domestic model that contained cups of coffee, magazines, and flowers in vases. But, the cups were empty of coffee, the flowers were dead in the vase, and the guests had not come. However Blake saw his own reflection in the plate glass. Martin explains that this illustrates a "false-front emptiness" where Miss Dent thinks Blake's life is full of friendships, money, and a large and loving family but in reality he sleeps in a room by himself, torments his wife, and all but abandoned his son to a neighbor. Martin also states that his domestic woes and ego divided behavior result from his perception that people have wronged him. This makes his behavior as open as the store-front window. He then introduces another image theory about the ride home on the train. Martin explains that the first and third ad, that depict a woman and a man toasting wine and a Hawaiian dancer, show visual manifestations of Blake's and Miss Dent's emotional desolation and psychological dysfunction. One final image that Martin explores is the Cat's Paw ad. A rubber heel placed on the bottom of a shoe to prevent slipping and falling is actually a metaphor for Blake and Miss Dent. When Miss Dent states, "You're the only obstacle between me and my happiness" the first and more literal meaning is that Blake is between her and the station ads that represent the relationship she seeks, but Blake is the heel between Miss Dent and her happiness.[9]
Robert A. Morace gave his views on The Five-Forty-Eight in his Author Biography on John Cheever. Morace found The Five-Forty-Eight close to another Cheever story O Youth and Beauty. Morace says that Blake is Cheever's least likable character. While Blake has undergone a change, and for the first time experiences regret, we do not know if his change will be long-lasting. However Miss Dent undergoes real change: with her decision to not kill Blake, she discovers some kindness and saneness within herself that could be put to use.[10]
Philip N Meyer gave his views of The Five-Forty-Eight in an article called "The Inside Story". Meyer says that Cheever exposes gender power imbalances, social cruelty and sexual abuse.[11] Meyer adds the view of Charles Baxter, a writer who teaches at the University of Minnesota. Blaxter says that Blake as a character is "a completely loathsome suburbanite who keeps up the appearance of gentility in business and at home, but whose inner life is hypocritical and self-deluded". Baxter says that Miss Dent's character is, "a lunatic of sorts, but in Cheever's story she is a messenger of fate. She is the axe to open the frozen sea of Blake's soul."
