Pool Scenes in The Graduate
At first glance it may seem that the swimming pool in Ben?s backyard is no more than an insignificant setting-choice for the movie. After close examination, however, the pool fills a critical role as the symbol of the recent college-graduate?s internal struggle with decisions regarding his future. Key scenes involving the swimming pool and the related aquarium in Ben?s room chronicle the evolution of his transition from adolescents into adulthood.
The opening scene of the movie in which Ben?s face is visible through the glass of his aquarium tank demonstrates his role as an adolescent upon arriving home from college. This is, however, only recognizable in a later scene taking place at the party his parents throw for him that evening. As Ben weaves through his parents friends, all questioning his future plans and giving un-solicited advice, he finds sanctuary in his childhood bedroom--finding an escape from the questions he can not answer. Looking down from his bedroom window, Ben stares at the lit-up swimming pool in his backyard. This scene introduces the pool as a significant element as well as a contrast to the aquarium, which is protected under the roof of his parents? home. In addition to the location of the pool outside as opposed to the aquarium in his room, the swimming pool is significantly larger and more exposed to external forces. This parallels Ben?s view of adulthood as frightening and un-controllable. Seeking the safety and fa...
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.
Based on a true story, this biographical drama centered around Antwone “Fish” Fisher. In the beginning of the story, he was a sailor prone to violent outbursts. On the verge of being kicked out of the Navy for repeated fighting, he is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing to open up, Dr. Davenport slyly slips his way into getting Antwone to talk. Antwone eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood with neglect and abuse. With the help of Dr. Davenport, he is able to face his past and strive for success to find the family he has never met. At the same time, he is able to turn his life around and change it dramatically. In the end, he is reunited with both his father’s side of the family and his mother who has abandoned him.
Throughout the story, the reader comes across several things that he or she will question. In the beginning of the story, a young boy goes to the aquarium to see the axolotls. He soon becomes obsessed with them and goes everyday to watch them. At the
Cheever, John. “The Swimmer”. Short Fiction: Classic and Contemporary. 6th ed. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006.
In Daniel Wallace’s novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions and Tim Burton’s film, Big Fish, the relationship between the dying protagonist, Edward Bloom and his estranged son, William Bloom, is centrally to the story in both the novel and film. Like many fathers in today's society, Edward Bloom wishes to leave his son with something to remember him by after he is dead. It is for this reason the many adventures of Edward Bloom are deeply interwoven into the core of all the various stories Edward tells to mystify his son with as a child. Despite the many issues father and son have in their tense relationship as adults, Daniel Wallace and Tim Burton’s adaptation of Wallace’s novel focalizes on the strained relationship between Edward Bloom and William Bloom. In both Wallace’s novel and Burton’s film, they effectively portray how the relationship between Edward Bloom and William Bloom is filled with bitter resentment and indifference towards each other. Only with William’s attempt to finally reconcile with his dying father and navigating through his father fantastical fables does those established feelings of apathy and dislike begin to wane. With Burton’s craftily brilliant reconstruction of Wallace’s story does the stories of Edward Bloom and his son blossom onto screen.
Benjamin Braddock is at a crossroads in his life. He has just graduated college which means he has reached adulthood and must decide what to do with his life. The problem is Benjamin is too immature to handle it. He is passive and watches the world around him move on. Ben prefers to lie around in his parent's pool rather than consider graduate school or finding good quality job. He is beginning to realize that the path his parents have chosen for him isn't the one he wishes to follow. He is lost young man in search of high dreams, ...
The movie “Breaking Away” presents the story of a young man from working class origins who seeks to better himself by creating a persona through which he almost, but not quite, wins the girl. The rivalry between the townies and the college students sets the scene for the story of four friends who learn to accept themselves as they "break away" from childhood and from their underdog self-images.
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 the opening scenes, as the two protagonists say goodbye to their family, they throw their phones out of the window with triumphant music being accompanied by. This suggests that they are finally escaping their everyday life where it is heavily consumed by the technology that surrounds them. A bird’s angle through a long shot of the protagonists by the shore has been used to create a sense of futility, thus highlighting that there is no time limit constraining them. A series of videos of them building their house out of debris highlights their creative inventions. Their creativity is portrayed with their idea of using plastic water bottles as insulation, thus symbolizing that discovering something for the first time can broaden one’s understanding. This highlights the impact of discoveries to being able to escape from the norm and allowing the human mind to explore without limitation within a limited environment and thus grow through which has been exemplified through the manipulation of photos and camera
“You think you can walk on water with your book? Look where they got you, in slime up to your lip. If I stir the slime with my little finger, you’ll drown!” It is through this confrontation with Beatty, when he finally removes himself from the society- crossing the river, which symbolises purification as it changes him from ignorance and conformity to knowledge and individual.
Throughout the story the ocean represented Edna's constant struggle for self-realization and independence. From her first flow of emotion on the beach to her last breath of life in the sea, the ocean beckons her. The voice of the sea lures her onward in her journey toward liberation and empowerment.
“The Swimmer,” a short fiction by John Cheever, presents a theme to the reader about the unavoidable changes of life. The story focuses on the round character by the name of Neddy Merrill who is in extreme denial about the reality of his life. He has lost his youth, wealth, and family yet only at the end of the story does he develop the most by experiencing a glimpse of realization on all that he has indeed lost. In the short story “The Swimmer,” John Cheever uses point of view, setting and symbolism to show the value of true relationships and the moments of life that are taken for granted.
Imagine a group of young boys who have just crash-landed on a deserted tropical island with no adults or supervision. William Golding showed in his ground breaking novel Lord of the Flies, what may happen in just those circumstances. In his very complicated and diverse novel Golding brings out many ideas and uses many literary devices. Above all others though comes symbolism of three main important objects being the conch, fire, and "Piggy's" eyeglasses. Through each of these three symbols Golding shows how the boys adapt and change throughout the novel. These symbols also help to show each of the boy's ideals on a variety of elements from human nature to society and its controls. All three of these symbols also change and are one of the most important elements of the story.
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.
These elements of the setting portray many crucial aspects of the story including privacy, character relations, and plot development. Describing Heitman as “my tentmate” (1) makes the tent a significant place of interaction because it is a private location separated from the rest of the camp. Catching fish in the river allows Bergman to see Heitman’s true character which is usually revealed in privacy. Heitman dominates everyone in the camp when he comes back at night in a frightening scene in which he was covered in blood and mud from the wilderness. The setting is used cleverly by the author in a very intriguing way.