The Swimmer By John Cheever Analysis

James Baldwin in The Creative Process states, “The artist is distinguished from all other responsible actors in society-- the politicians, legislators, educators, and the scientists-- by the facts that he is his own test tube, his own laboratory, working according to very rigorous rules…” (Baldwin 874). He claims that artists are easily distinguishable and identified in society by their creative works. An author is an artist who is able to create his characters with his own imagination, his own set of rules, and dictate how those characters learn, evolve, and behave in the world in which they are placed. John Cheever demonstrates in Expelled, The Swimmer, and Geometry of Love, the character development of his characters as their world around

In The Swimmer, it is clear that the Neddy’s excitement to complete the challenge to swim across the county to his house renders him oblivious to the evolving world around him. As a result, Neddy becomes confused with what he hears from his friends, and he becomes more and more urgent to get home to the security of his family. However, it is when the changes directly impact him does Neddy notices his absence in society, how he does not make an effort to participate, and its ramifications. Thus, he becomes overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness. The author describes, “It was probably the first time in his adult life that he had ever cried, certainly the first time in his life that he had ever felt so miserable, cold, tired, and bewildered” (736). Cheever is unnerved by how his actions of being gone for so long during his swim have impacted his relationships: his mistress and caterer were rude, others laughed at him, and he later finds his house empty. Because of his discovery, Cheever realizes the faulty of his actions and learns never to make such rash decisions again. Comparatively, in Expelled, Cheever makes a point to show how lonely he feels after leaving his school, longing to go back and have something to do. He states, “Everyone is preparing to go to school. I have no school to go back to” (10). Cheever realizes that he only put himself in this situation and feels all alone while

In Geometry of Love, Charlie Mallory finds himself in a world where adultery is common. He sees his wife doing the same things as what he accused the adulteresses of doing. However, he is unable to realize why his wife is unhappy and dissatisfied. He recognizes that “it was not that he had lost his sense of reality but that the reality he observed had lost its fitness and symmetry” (36). As a result, Mallory finds himself using geometry theorems to identify the cause of his wife’s anger. Mallory becomes a changed man after he sees the theorem work; he becomes heavily dependant on the theorem to then help him figure out all of his questions regarding his job, his family, and himself. Furthermore, it is clear that while Mallory tries to find a solution to his problems with geometry theorems, Cheever, in Expelled, does not protest his expulsion, but rather accepts it and later resents it. Moreover, Mallory shows that some may not be oblivious to their surroundings, just unsure of the answer, unlike Neddy in The Swimmer. The contrasts between the stories show how Mallory takes such extremes to understand what he is unable to figure out himself, whereas the other characters do not realize their mistakes until it is too