A Comparison Of Swimmer And Death Of A Salesman

“The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.” – Voltaire. In other words, people will believe what they want no matter what. This type of thing, or self-delusion, is a central theme in both Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” and John Cheever’s “Swimmer.” Though both stories are seemingly about completely different things, they both hinge on the idea that when things are tough, one will believe what they need to get through it. The similarities of these two stories revolve around the two main characters, Neddy from “Swimmer,” and Willie from “Death of a salesman,” and how they falsely perceive the world around them. Both of

In “Swimmer,” it is implied that Neddy was very well off and wealthy. We gather that he had it all, but then through some undisclosed misfortune, he loses everything. We do not know much about Neddy or what happened to him. Unlike in “Death of a Salesman,” we know much about Willy, we know that he was never well off, Willy seems to have always struggled to make enough to get by. Willy already does not have much, but we see the point in which he loses everything. Neddy and Willy are different in that, in the end, Neddy cannot remember what happened to him, but Willy knows and decides to kill himself to take care of it. Both are stories of misfortune and delusional main characters dealing with it, but different circumstances

Both main characters, Neddy and Willy, had an affair. In “Swimmer,” toward the end, Neddy is swimming through his last few pools and we see that he once had an affair that he ended. Because Neddy is not really aware of the actual time he is in, he does not remember when he had his affair, but he knows it happened and that he ended it. “They had an affair last week, last month, last year. He couldn’t remember. It was he who had broken it off, his was the upper hand, and nothing so considered as self-confidence.” (Cheever. Pg. 164). In “Death of a Salesman,” much is disclosed about Willy’s affair. Since he travels a lot for his job, Willy begins seeing a woman when he goes to Boston. This affair occurs in the past, it is not clear how long it lasts, but it is clear how and why it ends. When Biff, Willy’s eldest son, flunks a class in his senior year of high school, he comes to see his father in Boston. He discovers his father is having an affair and is very upset. It is implied that after this the affair is over. It is interesting that in both of these stories the main character has an affair. Though it is shared in both stories, the reactions are different. Neddy seems to not feel at all guilty about it, he does not seem to care much about how his wife and daughters would be affected, although this could be because they do not know. Willy’s experience is much different, he feels very