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.
They are at their affluent suburban friends Mr. and Mrs. Westerhazy’s house. Here he is grounded in reality. Neddy “sat by the green water, one hand in it, one around a glass of gin”. His pleasure seeking Id is in full force. The green color symbolizes wealth. The gin represents social lubrication. Neddy was “breathing deeply, stertorously as if he could gulp into his lungs the components of that moment”. It is here that I suspect he has already entered a dream state, and began his spiritual journey to the underworld. Cheever uses an archetypal narrative pattern that he is going on a quest, a type of night water journey that is suggests the depth of a spiritual allegory. This is the last time he will see his wife or children. archetypal figures: smacked the bronze backside (libido) of Aphrodite (Greek Water Goddess of love and beauty – vain and unfaithful like Neddy)
Then he has a vision of home, "where his four beautiful daughters would have had their lunch and might be playing tennis" and sees himself as free to be an explorer. In starting his journey he walks away from reality and enters a fantasy world where he is a great explorer about to conquer the Lucinda River that he names after his wife. In reality he ignored his wife, engaged in adulte...
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...ome the dream of attainment slowly became a nightmare. His house has been abandoned, it is empty and dark, the entryway or doors are locked. The sign of age, rust comes off in his hands. His body is cold, and he has deteriorated physically & emotionally. He is weathered just like his house and life. He is damaged poor, homeless, and the abandoned one.
These changes getting older weaker, act as a metaphor for a larger portion of Neddy’s life than the literal journey he undertakes on this afternoon. He has lost his social standing, his money, his wife and children and possibly his mind. In other words, his entire life.
Works Cited
Cheever, John. " The Swimmer” Literature for Writing about Literature. SUNYJCC, 15 Jan
2014. PDF. 3 Feb 2014.
Felluga, Dino. "Terms Used by Psychoanalysis." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. 31 Jan.
2011. Purdue U. 5 Feb 2014
In conclusion, the story describes that life changes, and nothing stays the same throughout it. It is in the hands of the people to decide that how they want their life to be. They can make it as beautiful as they want to and they can also make it worse than it has ever been
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Before the move to Coghill, Tom wanted his old life back. He sees the accident as the end of his life, though this he seems to have lost connection to his family and his sense of identity. Tom feels guilty and ashamed about the irrevocable consequences of Daniel’s irresponsibility and the impact this had on other people and their families. Retreats into a depressed state which feels empty and black. After the accident, Tom’s life was changed forever.
The Swimmer by John Cheever begins at Helen and Donald Westerhazy’s pool when Neddy Merrill makes the decision to journey eight miles home by swimming through a series of pools, he calls the “Lucinda River” (297) and walking when unable to swim. While he making his way back home, he stops at fourteen old friends’ houses and drinks before continuing on if possible. By the end of Neddy’s journey, he is exhausted and comes to the realization that he has lost not only his house but also his wife and daughters, and also his so-called friends and even a mistress. Cheever suggests that alcoholism is a destruction of life through the use of symbolism, imagery, and characterization.
The arrival of winter was well on its way. Colorful leaves had turned to brown and fallen from the branches of the trees. The sky opened to a new brightness with the disappearance of the leaves. As John drove down the country road he was much more aware of all his surroundings. He grew up in this small town and knew he would live there forever. He knew every landmark in this area. This place is where he grew up and experienced many adventures. The new journey of his life was exciting, but then he also had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach of something not right.
”He had no desire to revive that life.It had all been crumpled in the crash.he no longer gave thoughts to his clothes.He was an outcast,part of no,and no longer had anyone to impress.” He becomes more mature and self-satisfied. He is also able to obtain
Throughout John Cheever’s “The Swimmer”, Cheever uses Neddy’s decisions and thought processes to show conformity to the culture he lives in, versus the idea of nonconformity usually conveyed in existentialism influenced realism. The first and most notable aspect in the story is the journey that Neddy takes where he plans to swim across the county. The way it sounds, he is going to jump in a river or creek and swim down it. Instead, he simply swims in the pools of the people in the community. It is as if the idea of actually swimming in a river versus the neighbors’ pools is too obtuse. Another example is his knowing of all the houses and the owners along his journey. This knowledge is evident when Neddy goes over the mental map in his head,
“The beginning of female art found in this Aphrodite depict her as a slightly overweight, broad-shouldered, wide-hipped figure with rougher textures and harsher lines” (Berz). The Greeks found this so appealing because it looked very similar to themselves in form but because Aphrodite is na...
The main ideas that are expressed in John Cheever's The Swimmer, is how Neddy lives through a variety of stages of alcoholism and how they each affect his everyday life. In The Swimmer, Neddy takes daily swims through multiple swimming pools. This represents the journeys in his life. He goes from being cheerful to complete sadness and depression. When Neddy is or is not swimming also represents the emotions he is going through. For example, when Neddy is not swimming, he will feel down or angry for no apparent reason. Because of his alcohol addiction, he is usually looking for alcohol during this period of time. Once he has had a few drinks, he is feeling much better and is ready to swim again. “He needed a drink. Whiskey would warm him, pick him up, carry him ...
...accepts his wife’s life of royalty, and assimilates into an unfamiliar family, ending his journey.
Seney exists as the wasteland, having been ravaged and destroyed by fire to the point of complete desolation. The town is described by what it is lacking as a contrast to what Nick had remembered to have been there, yet Nick does not display any sensation of loss. He had merely “expected to find” the town as it was before the fire, but when he does not, he simply goes to the river to watch the trout. It the trout that s...
John Cheever is an American writer best known for his powerful criticism of American middle class. His stories are characterized by his attention to detail parts of his life inside his careful writing. Cheever lives drives the reader to his short fiction, “The Swimmer,” where he details the exploratory journey of Neddy Merrill. A main character who has name himself as a pilgrim. Neddy decides make an exploratory journey to swim his way home across his neighbors’ pools which represents the surface of his life. A life filled with swimming pools, parties and alcohol. Cheever focused in portraying a man with a perfect life on the surface with a content family, a high social status and many friends, which suddenly disintegrates through the story by an alcohol abuse. Therefore, this story stand as a metaphor for life, delivering the reader this message: life is short and valuable, and every actions performed brings its own reactions.
During his stay at the house of Usher, the narrator finds himself unable to draw his friend out of the abyss of misery in which he has enshrouded himself, both figuratively and literally. Admitting to his sister's approaching death being one of...
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