When Jack returns from serving in the military in World War II, he suffers financial setbacks and falls ill for months.
[8] Literary critic Lynne Waldeland notes that Cheever's "ominous introduction" in "Torch Song" anticipates its disturbing climax.
The impression did not stem from malice on his part, for he was fond of Joan…[10]Biographer Patrick Meanor identifies Joan Harris with the mythological figure Hecate of Greek antiquity, "known as one of the most notorious witches or sorcereesses of the ancient world."
[11] Meanor writes: Few of Cheever's characters are as outwardly normal as Joan Harris of "Torch Song", but no other Cheever figure takes on so ominously or subtly the obvious vampiric characteristics of the fatal woman as she...from 1947 on, there is a deeper and richer texturing taking place in his stories because was permitting archetypal figures - like Joan Harris - to enter his fiction.
[12]Meanor adds this caveat: "There is no question that her character has a vampiric quality, but what makes her the frightening figure she becomes as the story unfolds is that she seems totally unaware of her mythical identity or her necromantic powers."
Literary critic James E. O'Hara cautions that Cheever's narrative is vulnerable to "misunderstandings" that may expose the author to accusations of misogyny.
He chose not to oversimplify her in order to drive home the point that evil does not depend on human volition for its existence…"Torch Song" disturbs us precisely because it does not simplify the moral universe.