John Cheever’s Portrayals of Suburban Life Whether incarcerated by the dingy prison walls of Falconer or sailing freely on the Topaz, John Cheever always seems to capture the essence of New England suburban life in a straightforward way. Experience is an exquisite tool to use when writing novels and Cheever utilizes it to the best of his ability. Throughout his “sweet, sad, nourishing, voluptuous” (Beacham 235) stories there is a recurring theme as well as setting. His works deal with contemporary ironies of middle-class suburban people. Cheever is proclaimed to be “at his best when portraying the alcoholic haze of American uppe