The Fleeting of Social Status

617 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Irony in literature research paper

Historically it has been viewed that one's place in society is fixed. This concept included the notion that not only was it impossible for one to move up in society, but also that it was difficult for one to move down the social ladder. The American dream, of course, promotes the idea that one can move up in the social ladder. However, many fail to realize that one can plummet from highest social class to the bottom, without even realizing how or why. John Cheever's The Swimmer, examines and reveals this problem through conflicts of attitude between the narrator and the viewpoint character, Neddy Merrill. The narrator conveys the attitude that social status is fleeting through the use of irony and shifts in time. Neddy's attitude, however, is to cling to his social status through denial, over-rationalization and an arrogant sense of invulnerability.

The narrator uses irony to show that his attitude of social status is impermanent. Neddy Merrill's journey across the county by way of swimming pools is described as that of an expedition, with Neddy as the explorer. "Making his way home by an uncommon route gave him the feeling that he was a pilgrim, an explorer, a man with destiny..." However, the actual destiny of Neddy is the opposite of what is described in this passage. The narrator is consistent in building Neddy's image as one of extreme importance and high social order, which makes it ironic when the reader and Neddy discover that in reality his social status is at the very bottom rung.

In addition to the use of irony, the narrator plays with the perception of time. In Neddy's world time is fixed; in the real world, time has passed. John Cheever does this through multiple concepts of time. The narrator describes m...

... middle of paper ...

...e wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves and scattered them over the grass and the water. Since it was midsummer the tree must be blighted..." Neddy can not see the sign that change has occurred because he has over-rationalized a reason for why the tree appears in such a way during what he believes is midsummer, when it is clearly not.

In the end, it becomes apparent that Neddy really suffers from an arrogant sense of invulnerability--which is the cause of his denial and over-rationalization. Neddy, along with the rest of the tennis club town, never would have thought his status would be gone. This arrogant sense of invulnerability also proves the difference between the narrator's attitude and Neddy's attitude. Neddy could not believe that his social status would ever change, where as the narrator is telling us that social status is fleeting.

Show More
Related

  • Good Country People By Flannery O Connor

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator starts by talking about Mrs. Freeman. “Besides the neutral expressions that she wore when she was alone, Mrs. Freeman had two others, forward and reverse, that she used for all her human dealings” (433). The irony in this first line is that she is a “Freeman,” yet only has three different expressions. Another example of an irony that is easily noticeable is when Mrs. Hopewell considered Manley Pointer as “good country people.” “He was just good country people, you know” (441). The irony in this line is that in the end, Manley Pointer, whom is supposedly is “good country people,” ends up being a thief who steals Hulga’s prosthetic leg and runs and not only steals, but admits that he is not a Christian, making the line, “good country people,” a dramatic irony. However, one of the most ironic characters in the story is Hulga herself as she understands little of herself, regardless of the high education she holds in philosophy. For example, Hulga imagines that Pointer is easily seduced. “During the night she had imagined that she seduced him” (442). Yet, when they kissed, she was the one who was seduced and having the “extra surge of adrenaline… that enables one to carry a packed trunk out of a burning house…”

    Read More

  • Man Vs. Society In The Scarlet Ibis By James Hurst

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Someone might’ve had an intention to do nothing but good, and then ends up doing a terrible deed. Situational irony can completely shock and surprise the reader and their expectation of the story. This could be an easy and entertaining way for the author to show a character’s failure, or even a character’s unexpected success. The narrator had said,”I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us.” (pg.425) This quote helps to represent the stories theme because it talks all about irony and how things don’t end up as they are supposed to. It was obviously ironic when the Narrator caused the breakdown of Doodle while he was the one trying to build Doodle up the most. Or even how the Narrator thought he would be stuck with Doodle his whole life, and then he becomes the reason why Doodle is gone from his life permanently. The Narrator does something completely unexpected and leaves Doodle behind in the rain. Throughout the whole story we knew the Narrator didn’t really like Doodle in the beginning, but he still stuck with him. Now when the Narrator and Doodle are at their closest point yet, the Narrator decides to abandon him. It is ironic how if Doodle wasn’t pushed towards societal betterment, he would still be

    Read More

  • Literature Perspectives On America By Louise Erdrich

    1376 Words  | 3 Pages

    While some stories are more relevant in today 's society I think they are all equally important, despite the amount of attention each topic gets in American society’s media. In “The Swimmer” the clever metaphor using Neddy’s slowly digressing swim journey on the “Lucinda River” compares to how his real life and his relationship with his wife Lucinda and his children goes downhill. It is clear that Neddy is living a la...

    Read More

  • Denial and Alcoholism Exposed in The Swimmer, by John Cheever

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Social Hierarchy: a Destructive, Manipulative Device

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emily Bronte's erudite novel, Wuthering Heights, is set between the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. This era was a time where the British bureaucracy had been a clean-cut, unprinted mandate on how an individual would live and work in his life. Those who commanded British society were the royal members, followed by the nobility. The nobles had been followed by the gentry, otherwise known as the upper-middle class. Members of the gentry were in possession of servants and rather grandiose estates, however unlike the members of the aristocracy, they held no titles; their status was most vulnerable to alteration. For instance, a man may view himself as a gentleman; he believes this supposition due to his polite behavior and articulation. However, to his humiliation, he discovers that his fellow citizens do not view him in the same degree. A man at that time had only been a gentleman according to the number of servants he had, the yards of land he owned, where his money had come from (whether through inheritance, land, or trade), and finally his eloquence. Having only one of these qualifications would do very little in aggrandizing one's status. The Linton and Earnshaw's dependence on such a volatile system served as the driving force for their actions and as the stimulus for the characters' destructive nature.

    Read More

  • Alcoholism in The Swimmer, by John Cheever

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cheever, John. "The Swimmer." The Northon Anthology American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.

    Read More

  • Psychoanalytical Criticism of The Swimmer by John Cheever

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Belonging to society

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    The attitudes of others forcibly constrict and diminish the subconscious of others ultimately limiting their ability to make choices and clouding their sense of belonging. There is only a matter of time before one's choices are influenced by their surroundings and the relationships that exist there. Psychological barriers created by experience dictate one's attitude ultimately limiting their perception of the world. The attitudes of others can thrust unwanted experiences on one, ultimately altering and damaging their capability to make choices in relation to where they situate their sense of self. Jane Harrison’s Rainbows End, a play about how the ignorance of Anglo-Saxon society in Australia inhibits and challenges an Aboriginal family to find where they belong in society and Edgar Allen Poe’s Alone, a poem that addresses differences in how one views the world and how they make sense of where they belong in it. Both of these texts utilize various techniques that allow us to see how the attitudes of others reduce one’s sense of belonging.

    Read More

  • The Battle with Social Class

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social class is a system of social stratification, the hierarchy creates specific types of social inequalities. Social inequality refers to the existence of social inequalities created such as ownership, types of occupation that creates differences in wealth, income and power, while social stratification refers to the existence of social groups. Class can be arranged to economic factors such as income, education, wealth and other factors at work. Poverty remains high and could argue that true poverty cannot exist in a country as rich as the United States. It is clear that poverty has an impact on certain groups of people, while other groups have it easy, but poverty is often associated with something low education, poor health and social inequalities groups. Nearly a quarter of less than high school (23.6%) education live below the poverty line, while 3.6% of people with tertiary education live below the poverty line (U.S. Census 2007). The assumption that poverty is something that adds to increasing educational opportunities for the poor and education overall, suggests that it is very difficult to get out of poverty. You can see some similarities between health, poverty and employment status. The results of poor health, poor health contributes to poverty, and the difficulty of working full time. These are all things that come to be in a state of poverty.

    Read More

  • Use Of Irony In The Novel Room

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another example of the ironic situations in this noel is when Jack wants to send a letter to the television show character Dora. Although Dora lives in the TV world Jack believes that writing letters on toilet paper and flushing them down the toilet will send the letters into the sea which only exists in the TV world. This is ironic because if Jack does not live in the TV world, then how it is possible to send letters to a place that does not exist. Because of living five years in this single room it is hard for Jack to be able to see and understand the

    Read More

  • Denial and Alcoholism Exposed in The Swimmer, by John Cheever

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cheever, John. "The Swimmer." The Northon Anthology American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. E. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.

    Read More

  • The Nightmare in Bullet Park

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Neddy Merrill abruptly decides to begin his journey home one Sunday afternoon during the summer while lounging around a friend’s pool after a night of lavish partying and drinking the previous night. His journey starts out promising as fluffy cumulous clouds and shimmering swimming pools guide him toward his destination. This bright, cheerful weather gives Neddy’s forthcoming journey an optimistic air. Bruce Fogelman suggests that at the beginning of his journey Neddy views his life similar to stagnant water, “static yet unconfined” (3). Neddy desires to escape what he sees as his normal, boring life even though he lives a quite comfortable middle-class life. He fails to appreciate what he has and instead goes out looking for bigger, better things. Robert M. Slabey also describes Neddy as an escapist, adding that Neddy has plenty of material items, but nothing ever fully satisfies him (3). These characteristics Neddy possesses make him look like a child, further demonstrated when Cheever describes Neddy as a man with “the slenderness of youth,” eager to swim home in an attempt to prove h...

    Read More

  • Dramatic Irony In The Story Of An Hour

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Irony can often be found in many literary works. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is masterfully written full of irony. The characters of the short story, Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, Richards, Mr. Brently Mallard, and the doctors all find their way into Chopin’s ironic twists. Chopin embodies various ironies in “The Story of an Hour” through representations of verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony.

    Read More

  • Situational and Dramatic Irony in Story of an Hour, Everyday Use, The Necklace, and The Lottery

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are so many examples of situational irony that is clear throughout these stories Mr. Mallard being dead, Mama finally realizes that Maggie deserves the quilts because she understands her heritage better than Dee, Mathilde finding out she worked her whole life for nothing, and when Mr. Graves tells Tessie that Eva draws with her husband's family, Tessie is angry.  Dramatic irony is everywhere as well. Louise dies from the shock of seeing her husband who is supposed to be dead and when Dee never wanted anything to do with her heritage until somebody was impressed by it.

    Read More

  • Social Status

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social Status It’s Just Me. Does anyone really have one specific class they fit into? Different activities and things we do put us in many different classes. For example, if your in a prole class and you ride in a limo on prom night.

    Read More

More about The Fleeting of Social Status

Open Document