When Blake sleeps with Miss Dent, he thinks that her insecurity guarantees that there will be no consequences for him. He is very wrong in this regard: months later, Miss Dent obtains a gun and pursues him on his commute home. In an ironic twist, the very instability that first assures Blake that she could have no power over him is what ultimately drives her to take revenge.
The Question and Answer section for The Five-Forty-Eight is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
Mr. Blake is a business man who holds an important enough executive position to warrant having a private secretary. He is petty and snobbish and almost certainly suffering some manner of a personality disorder dependent on an elevated level of...
The Five-Forty-Eight is a reference to the train Blake caught to take home. It reminds Blake of the bomb shelters in the not so distant past, and it metaphorically represents the "bomb" that will go off in the train..... Miss Dent's emotional...
In my opinion, Blake will definitely take more time and excercise caution when hiring personal employees. He might also have learned to extend a little generosity before firing someone.... maybe finding out what they're really like. In the end,...
