The story “The Swimmer” by Cheever takes place during midsummer Sunday where everyone sitting around and saying “I drank too much.” Most of the story takes place at when Neddy goes on a journey by traveling through many pools. Neddy belongs to white upper-middle class social standing. The story does changes over times when Neddy travels through different pools with new experiences. At the beginning of the story, everyone is talking about their hangovers. Throughout the story, alcohol is defined as a drug or poison. The protagonist is dealing is obsessed with alcohol, to which he could not stop drinking and it had become his habit as he continues his journey. In the story, alcohol is defined as the poison.
Plot:
When Neddy takes his journey
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As he traveled he met so many different people, who were rude, mean, and does not accept his acceptance. However, they are few who didn’t accept his habit of drinking. Which he could not stay away from. Many people have different roles in this try to contain situations towards the antagonist, so the antagonist figured himself properly, what really he is.
Point of View:
The story was told by third person point of view who reveals about the main character Neddy. The story had covered the main character thoughts and see his actions throughout the story. Also, the author was telling the story as someone was observing Neddy’s journey. It had shown the reactions of his friends and neighbors as he travels through their pools. “Neddy asks for a drink when he gets to Helen and Eric Sachsen’ pool, but Helen says they haven’t been drinking since Eric had an operation three years ago. Neddy has no recollection that Eric had been sick.” His feelings changes as he continuing his journey.
Theme:
The theme of the story is about that life continues and changes over time. Time passes and things do not stay the same. As Neddy finish his journey he becomes cold and his life cycle of happiness is shutting down while he is entering the winter world. “He shouted, pounded on the door, tried to force it with his shoulder, and then looking in at the windows, saw that the place was
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The story delivers the message that life is short and don’t waste your time. Spend this worthy time to achieve something good or reach your goals. Rather than him who had spent all his life in luxury and at the end he found there no one behind him everything he had gone. He wasted his life on things which were not worthy, such as drinking all the time. Which brought him close to death.
Critique/Analysis:
The story made me feel sad because the antagonist had suffered after entering the real world from his fantasies. The strongest aspect of the story is when Neddy learned the lesson from his journey that time pass quickly and life is too short. The weakest aspect of the story is Neddy attitude and feelings had changed as he went through his journey by meeting people. The story thought me that life is short and don’t waste time on things which are not worthy, besides, focus on your goals which can make you and
Life is a complicated process. It’s filled with many things that keep it interesting but at the same time, very dull. Life’s what you make it and for many, it’s something we all strive for. In the story, The Space Between, the author takes full advantage of the premise as there’s rarely a dull moment- as in life. The book is filled with many literary devices that work nicely with the plot and dialogue. These include; metaphors, similes, irony, personification, and many more. We follow a young man who is finding his way in the world. He has only a week to change his life for the better. But he will face many obstacles on the way that brings the readers into a startling and fun journey.
It is a fact of life that Alcoholism will distort the victim’s view of reality. With authors, they put parts of their personality and symptoms of their condition into their characters sometimes, flawed distortions included, with varying degrees
John Cheever does not merely state the theme of his story, he expresses his theme, as a good writer should, in a variety of metaphors and analogies coupled with powerful imagery. In The Swimmer, Cheever writes and underscores his primary theme of alcoholism in many ways, such as his use of autumnal imagery and the color green. However, there is also some very prominent symbolism and allusions that serve to highlight the theme while also augmenting the artistic and poetic nature of the story. One very important use of symbolism is in the “perverted sacraments” as originally pointed out by Hal Blythe in 1984. Along side these symbols, Hal Blythe, along with Charlie Sweet, later discovered a clear allusion to Ponce de Leòn in 1989.
Neddy’s character is very similar to Charlie from “Babylon Revisited”. Charlie was very fortunate, he lost both his wife and his daughter due to his uncontrollable alcoholism. However, after “controlling” his drinking problem, he decides that he wants nothing to do with his past life.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
Through symbolism the author shows us how Neddy goes from social drinking to destitution. Each stop at a neighbor’s pool gets progressively harder, but he keeps on. Neddy ignores these signs and becomes beaten and finally alone. This truly is a sad journey of a man who destroys himself through alcohol. As the story ends, Neddy realizes that he is alone. Will he change? Get help for his alcoholism? The author leaves us hanging, but at this point we know he is alone, everyone has abandoned him. Neddy has followed the stereotypical footsteps of an alcoholic.
In my mind this particular short story has a very interesting meaning behind it. This meaning is one that many younger people such as myself would benefit most from. I think that the whole point of the story is that you shouldn't just rush along and always be in such a hurry.
The kids seem innocent and full of life in the beginning of the story but soon after they lose all of there… well basicly there childhood. When Finny falls from the tree it basically gives a point from the beginning of the story about how they were being very irresponsible and uncareful until the point where he learns his lesson and understands to be responsible and give more care about things. When were first introduced to the book it's the summer and everyone is having fun but when Finny falls it comes to the end of summer and it also introduces how the winter is gonna come with responsibilities and hard work. It also makes the point of when Finny falls from the tree all the fun, excitement and happiness all the kids and everyone had before have now changed depression,sorrow and hardship come into the story. Gene shows remorse and felt very bad after he confessed to shaking the branch which made Finny to fall.
What does it mean to be in a state of drunkenness? A person who is inebriated views his surroundings in a surreal fashion; reality exists on the periphery. The drunk is by default interacting with the world on an inferior level as opposed to those who are sober. Alcoholism is also a chronic debilitating disease. It resonates outward from the individual to all those that he has contact within his life. Joyce utilizes the character of the drunk in many of the stories in Dubliners, hardly a story skips a mention of drink. Among despair, isolation and dependence, alcoholism is a theme that runs through all the stories. Alcoholism is the focus in "Grace" where Joyce takes the symbolic alcoholic and shows us what Joyce believes is a part of the problem plaguing Dublin.
Upon reading more closely, the story is revealed to present a tragic journey of a man who has lost his sanity but seeks solace in the materialistic comforts of his old life. The story succeeds in making a number of statements about human nature: that wealth is the most powerful measure of social status and anyone without it will face ostracization; that denial of one 's mistakes and unfortunate circumstances only leads to more pain; that even the most optimistic people can hold dark secrets and emotional turmoil inside them. All of these themes compel the reader to ponder their real-life implications long after the story is
Jellinek, E. M. (1960.) The Disease Concept of Alcoholism. New Haven, Conn.: College and University Press.
This short story is a type of story that one cannot fully understand until the end, there is constantly things thrown in, changing your thinking of the theme or the point of the story. While I was reading through the story, I became to slowly make connections with each
There are many times where the narrator describes his actions towards his loved ones while under the influence of alcohol. Since the narrator is trying to draw the attention to his consumption of alcohol, he tries to make sure that his actions trace back to it. In the short story, the narrator says "But my disease grew upon me -- for what disease is like Alcohol !..."(Poe 23) which shows his addiction for alcohol becoming stronger. The narrator's madness seems to be heightened by the alcohol. He begins to chan...
1. My first impression of the story was the setting reminds me of a fall day in Michigan. It was dark and cool so it reminds me of my childhood in the mornings getting ready for school. At first I thought it was something like a family trip for the guys before the characters where describe. The thought of a young boy on a trip into manhood with his father and Uncle. As the story goes along my impression changes over time to its a story about life circle and the development of a young man 's understanding about life at the hands of his father.
story is told from the point of view of a teenager who is the narrator of the