Introduction
It was one of those summertime Sundays when everyone is sitting around lamenting how much they drank the night before. (Cheever 776). This opening line by John Cheever establishes the mood for his short tale "The Swimmer." Cheever was born in 1912 in Quincy, Massachusetts, in the United States. He could only attend a private day school because of his parents' financial situation, where he did badly because of the stuffy environment. He did, however, begin composing at a young age and even took first place in a short story competition. Before his first piece of writing was released. The narrative addresses the plights of Neddy Merill, who is the main character as he loses respect, friends, possessions, and family as he gets obsessed with his swimming hobby. The story is inspired by oral narrative and it is based on personal experiences with several meanings of the human society. Cheever’s “The Swimmer” is a literary piece that tells of what could result if a person immerses themselves entirely into a single goal and ignores all the other things that enrich life.
The Beginning of the Journey
The narrative begins with Neddy being at Westerhazy pool complaining of hangover whereby Cheever is describing how lack of focus can make achieving goals to be futile. Everything that is happening around him indicates that something is wrong given that when he starts swimming across the pool, a storm appears. Neddy believes in to retain his youth despite being a middle-aged man, and this can be identified from his attitude. He is feeling energetic, young and happy and he decided to get home by swimming through pools. Although Neddy was far from young, he is described as displaying “…the impression that was definitely one of youth” (Cheever 776). He walks to Grahams’ place and swims in their pool, takes a drink and moves on to Hammers pool and several others. A party is being held at Bunkers’ pool, and Enid welcomes him to the party, but he only takes the drink and moves on (Gale, and Cengage Learning 6). It is while swimming at Levys’ place that the storm begins and he waits for it to recede. Neddy is heading towards Welchers’ pool when he realizes that the Lindleys’ horse riding area is overgrown. Welchers’ pool is also dry, and he cannot remember the last time he heard from them. It is evident that he has lost touch with the people around him (Woods et al., 109). Shirley Adams gives him a cold reception despite being his mistress because he does not remember that the affair ended long ago. It is at this point that he started feeling cold and confused prompting him to start crying (Gale, and Cengage Learning 9). He continues to swim only to reach home and find all the light are out and no one is there. The house is locked and empty.
The Downfall of Neddy Merill
The main protagonist, Neddy Merill has a high social standing in this society. He views himself and his friends as blessed to have a perfect family and a pricey suburban home. His friends are described as, “… a group of well-wheeled suburbanites…” (Woods et al. 104). He rejected and accepted invitation based on the rigid social hierarchies and his position allowed him to swim across pools uninvited due to having many friends. “And while he was far from young…the impression was definitely one of youth sport and clement weather” (Cheever 776). It shows Neddy is not young, but he prides himself and his vigor and youthful strength considering himself invincible. During the watery journey home, it is when he realizes that the discontent he stubbornly ignored was present in his life. He had distanced himself from people by rejecting their invitations, and they remarked it had been long since they saw. Friends had moved away, some get sick, and he had also suffered a misfortune that cost his family and wealth, but he was not aware of all these things (Cheever 784). Though not an evil man, Neddy's willful ignorance of the life’s unpleasant side had led to his downfall. He lost his social standing, his family, mistress affection, and youth.
Point of View and Characterization
The author uses a limited, objective and omniscient third person point of view which allows the inclusion of the reader in the resolution of the plot. Neddy is used to show how the corporations in America at this time were business hungry and shallow. Cheever depicts Neddy as selfish, cold-hearted and empty (Woods et al. 101). Most of his cronies are just like him, and they talk about business even at parties. Neddy is particularly, self-centered and hedonistic and he uses his swimming stints as a means of coping with the fact of being a ruined person (Gooderham). The author uses him to illustrate how individuals can become consumed with ambition to the point of losing track of the critical things in their lives.
Historical Context
The short story is written in a historical context at a time when the upper and the middle-class Americans were enjoying great prosperity. A plausible argument is that most Americans who had survived the wars of 1945-1950s enjoyed affluence during the post-war era. The literature written at this time indicates that suburbs grew rapidly (Fogelman 468). It is the reason why Cheever uses it as the setting of this story. Nerdy appears to be affluent at the beginning of the narrative which is the kind of affluence that characterized this period. The author constructs the plot in this historical context.
The Use of Irony
“The Swimmer” adopts an ironic tone given that nothing is what it seems but the opposite meaning is emphasized. Neddy is alienated, worn and disoriented and not what he views himself to be. He attempts to gain notoriety and revive his youth by swimming across a series of pools on his way home. The decision to swim was due to the belief that the endeavor would be significant, but it ends up being a meaningless task. Upon arrival, his homecoming is cold, uncelebrated and empty and this is contrary to the triumph he expected him (Woods et al., 107). The author uses an ironic tone to develop themes in the narrative.
Symbolism and Allegory
The story uses various items symbolically to represent the things happening in Neddy’s life. The pools that he swims through on his way home are used to stand for the periods of time he passes through. Neddy starts swimming while robust, active and contented with life and even feels like a “legendary figure” (Cheever 777). As he continues swimming, he becomes weak and has to use the ladder to pull out of the pools unlike when starting. Grace “turned her back on him…the bartender served him, but served him rudely” (Cheever 786). It shows his social standing and circle had started to change and he is now getting snubbed by the bartender at the party and Grace.
The changes in weather and season have also occurred throughout the narrative, and this represents the changing circumstances of Neddy’s life. In the beginning, he is conscious of his happiness and pleasures of the day and nothing else and warm in the sunshine 0. As he continues swimming from pool to pool the weather and the water is comfortable, but the passing of a storm brings a turning point to his plan. He is forced to wait alone for the storm to pass in a deserted gazebo and the storm leaves him feeling chilly and lonely (Cheever 780). He changes to an apathetic walking figure from a robust traveler. The final pool has cold water, and the weather has changed from summer to autumn. The changes are symbolic as they show how Neddy’s happy life ended.
“The Swimmer” is an allegory of decline, life cycle, and aging and it involves symbolic representation through events, characters, and events. The swimmer is concerned with the protagonist swimming home. However, the allegorical meaning of the swimmer is about aging, the hypocrisy of the upper class, physical decline and life cycle (Fogelman 469). When he starts his journey, he is energetic and feels young, but upon reaching home, he feels weak and disoriented due to the things he has lost.
The author uses the events in the narrative to show the inevitable passage of time. Neddy’s journey to swim home through pools turns out to be a journey through the many years of his lifetime. The events indicate that passage of time is inevitable no matter how an individual tries to ignore it. The denial that Neddy is living in makes him think that he is “far from young” making him act like a youngster. As he swims home, time passes more quickly than he can realize, “the rain had cooled the air, and… the force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves…” (Cheever 780). Most of his peers have acted their age and dealt with adult problems and his mistress is concerned and asks “Will you ever grow up?” (Cheever 787). It is only at the end that he comes to realize that time has passed.
Works Cited
Fogelman, Bruce. "A Key Pattern of Images in John Cheever's Short Fiction." Academic Journal, vol. 26, no. 6, 1989, pp. 163-470. Accessed 21 Nov. 2017.
Gale, and Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for John Cheever's "Swimmer". Cengage Learning,
Gooderham, WB. "The Swimmer by John Cheever into a Suburban Darkness." The Guardian, the Guardian, 20 Sept. 2017, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/31/the-swimmer-by-john-cheever-into-a-suburban-darkness. Accessed 21 Nov. 2017.
John Cheever. The Swimmer. Alfred A Knopf, 1978.
Woods, Tim, et al. The Ethics in Literature. Palgrave, 2001.
