More handpicked essays just for you.
What is the point of view that John Cheever puts on the swimmer
What is the point of view that John Cheever puts on the swimmer
What is the point of view that John Cheever puts on the swimmer
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In “Swimmers” by John Cheever, the negative changes in the narrator’s surroundings as he journeyed along the river allowed him to leave his façade and reconnect with reality. For example, when Neddy leaves the gazebo at the Levy’s house and analyzes his surroundings, he says, “The force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves and scattered them over the grass and the water” (Cheever 730). The description of falling leaves compared to the description of a bright, summer day presented at the beginning of the story shows that a significant amount of time has passed since then. This reveals to the reader that Neddy is not truly aware of his surroundings because from his perspective, it seems as if only a few hours have passed
John Cheever uniquely crafted the story “The Swimmer” by using a mix of surrealism and realism throughout the story. Most people when they read “The Swimmer” they have to reevaluate it to comprehend what is happening. The reason for that is because Cheever shifts between surrealism and realism so much that the reader does not even notice. The story starts out with Neddy being so strong and youthful, but as the story goes on he weakens and ages. When he was youthful Neddy decided to swim every pool in his neighborhood. As he ages and weakens, the pools get harder to swim and the seasons pass without him even noticing.
water, curved and smooth and green.'; This seems to illustrate the peacefulness of the situation, almost creating a lazy, calm atmosphere. However, the imagery within “The Swimmer'; is quite opposite. “The Swimmer'; tends to portray a scene of force, as there is no evidence of the peaceful interaction between man and water as found in “Lone Bather.'; Evidence of such force ...
Cheever, John. “The Swimmer”. Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary. 6th ed. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
Cheever, John. "The Swimmer." The Northon Anthology American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
The swimming pools that Neddy, the main character, plunges through as he makes his way home signifies the passage of time. At the beginning of the narrative, Neddy is a “slender man-he seemed to have the especial slenderness of youth-and while he was far from young he had slid down his banist...
In the short story The Swimmer by John Cheever, one of the dominant themes is the passage of time. In this short story time seems to pass as reality does with us unaware of its passing. The main character is the protagonist hero, Neddy Merrill who embarks on a traditional theme of a homeward journey. The scene opens on a warm mid-summer day at an ongoing pool party with Neddy and his wife Lucinda. The pool is “fed by an artesian well with a high iron content, was a pale shade of green.
In John Cheever's story The Swimmer, Neddy Merrill is a successful man. His success is measured by the prestigious neighborhood he lives in with tennis, golf and swimming pools. Neddy has made it socially and financially. He is never without an invitation to social events, which always include drinking. He is at the top of his game. While attending the party at the Westerhazy's house with his wife, he has the desire to swim home. He sees the line of swimming pools that stretch eight miles to his home, he calls them the “Lucinda River” (297) . He is a confident man and thought "of himself as a legendary figure" (250-251). He dives in and when he gets out on the other side, he informs his wife he is swimming home. Cheever uses each pool that Neddy visits to show the passage of time in Neddy's life, and reveals how his alcoholism, infidelity and continual denial of his actions led to the destruction of his American dream.
The poem, “The Swimmer’s Moment” details that when given the opportunity to take risks, one should take them moderately. In our daily lives, everyone encounters scenarios similar to the whirlpool, or, where they have the option to take a risk and weigh the positives vs. negatives. The whirlpool in itself is a risk, as one could end up in the, “black pit” or, “ominous centre” as a consequence for their actions. For example, they could end up in the figurative, “black pit” filled with consequences of their actions, therefore giving reason as to why before taking a risk, it should be calculated so that they do not end up regretting it. For those who do not take risks, however, they, “will not recognize” and will not get to experience the thrill of
‘The idleness of a passenger, my isolation amongst all these men with whom I had no point of contact, the oily and languid sea, the uniform sombreness of the coast, seemed to keep me away from the truth of things, within the toil of a mournful and senseless delusion. The voice of the surf heard now and then was a positive pleasure, like the speech of a brother. It was something natural, that had its reason, that had a meaning.’ (Conrad, 40).
Hemingway states, “After the hot day, the dew had come quickly and heavily. The river made no sound. It was too fast and smooth” (1204). Nick goes to the river to find a quiet, serene place. He knows it will always be there and that he can always count on it. In the Disney movie, Pocahontas, the Indian princess sings a song about rivers, how they are always changing and flowing, and that you never know what’s around the river bend. This suggests change, but Nick does not look at it that way. All he knows is he can always come back to the same river, even when his world around him is falling apart. Water in general is natural, and is known for spiritual healing and great simplicity. Nick loves how he can rely on something like a river for mental and spiritual support, something he hasn’t had since his return. Nick also uses the river as a guide. He knows where he is in correlation to the river, which helps him find his way. This is a huge step for Nick, because he can’t rely on much of anything, but the river gives him that peace and sense of
Neddy’s alcoholism gets the better of him on how he needs to drink each time he swims through a pool, just like astronaut John W. Young had to sneak on his sandwich onto the space ship. Both of them let their judgement for something cloud what is really the right thing to do. Neddy’s addiction to alcohol let that cloud his judgement and at the end of it all lost friends and family. Neddy sees the swimming pools as a great journey and himself as the great explorer. He has all of these fantasies of being an explorer when he first sets off on his journey, but when the journey ends he finds himself at a dark and empty place that is not familiar.
...his story the main message that life is short and he succeeded by using point of view, setting and symbolism. “The Swimmer” can teach many readers not to waste valuable time like Neddy did when drinking, caring about insincere relationships among social status, and taking his family for granted. Cheever’s usage of literary elements not only displays the theme of “The Swimmer”, but also organizes passages of events for the reader to experience throughout the story. John Cheever once said, “The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness” (Good Reads). He perfectly illustrates this objective in “The Swimmer.”
In John Cheever’s, “The Swimmer”, on a hot summer Sunday ,while sitting by the pool with his wife and neighbors, as they all complained about their hangovers, a man of higher status named Needy Merrill decides to get home by swimming through the pools in his county. When Needy first starts off his journey he feels young and enthusiastic; he is then greeted in a joyous manner by his neighborhood friends. Apparently, Needy is a well-known and respected man. As his journey progresses he starts seeing red and orange leaves; he then realizes that it was fall. In the middle of his journey he starts to endure some turmoil, but he does not let that stop his journey. As his journey ends, Needy starts to come encounter with some people who constantly mention his misfortune and struggle with his family. Needy does not remember any of the turmoil that had been going on in his life, and starts to wonder if his memory is failing him. Towards the end, many of the people that came encounter with treated him rudely. Needy realizes that something must have went wrong in his life. When Needy arrives home, he sees that his house is empty and that his family is gone. In “The Swimmer “, John Cheever uses setting to symbolize the meaning of the story.
The tiles were still dirty from the residue of chlorine and pittle combined into one thick layer of impossible gunk. This gunk surrounded the edge of pool right where the water met the lowest part of the tile and was even apparent underneath the shallow water fountain around the back end. The ring had been worn away in spots where the missus had got so fed up that she was gonna put an end to this "ring of filth" once and for all. A few times she had started, but had always found a broken nail or straying hair to become spontaneously obsessive about when her arm got tired of scrubbing.
Salty tears of frustration streamed down my checks into the steaming mineral water that surrounded me. No one noticed; no one cared. I was just another stranger in the crowd drifting along in Glenwood Pool. There was only one difference; I was alone. Everyone else in the pool seemed to have someone, and everywhere I looked couples were kissing! If someone had been surveying the whole thing they would have found happiness in every corner ... then they would have seen me; sulking in my corner of the pool with fat, old, wrinkly, bald men swimming past me repeatedly.