 Martin explains when Miss Dent states, "You’re the only obstacle between me and my happiness" that the first and more literal meaning is that Blake is between her and the station ads that represent the relationship she seeks, but also that Blake is the heel between Miss Dent and her happiness.Robert A. Morace gave his views on "The Five-Forty-Eight" in his Author Biography on John Cheever.Morace states that after his reading on "The Five-Forty-Eight" he found it to be close to another story also written by John Cheever called, “O Youth and Beauty”.