About the author
John Cheever was born on May, 27th in 1912. He was an American short story writer and novelist. He will be remained remembered by the works such as the short stories “The Swimmer”, “The Enormous Radio”, “Goodbye, My Brother”, “The Five-Forty-Eight”, “The Country Husband” and also by the novels “The Wapshot Scandal”, “The Wapshot Chronicle”, “Bullet Park”, “Falconer” etc. The main characteristics of his works are contrast in human nature, and also recollection, regret and sentimentality for a transience of life. He was awarded with Pulitzer Prize For Fiction in 1979 and a National Book Critics Circle Award, and in 1982 he was awarded with the National Medal for Literature by the American
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The cancer spread to his femur, pelvis and bladder. John Cheever died on June 28th in 1982 in Ossining, New York.
“The Swimmer” overview of the story
“The Swimmer” is the short story written by John Cheever and it is considered as one of his best short stories. It was published in the collection of short stories “The Brigadier and the Golf Widow”. This story is regarded as one of the best examples of Cheever's suburban stories. The story follows eight miles long way that Neddy Merrill tries to pass by swimming the pools of Westchester County. Neddy Merrill is represented as the main character of the story, whose retrospective of life is illustrated by swimming through the neighbor's pools. The plot of the story concerns the time passage and the main character's unawareness of the very same. At the begging of the story he is described as a happy, family man who lives the “American dream” but he ends up alone because he disregarded the
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The storm often symbolizes the financial problems which apparently appeared in Neddy's life, he lost his money and more important his family and house. Foremost important fact to indicate the passage of the time is the Neddy's physical condition at the begging and the end of the story. At the begging of the story the author uses the adjectives such as “slenderness of youth” (Cheever, 1964) to describe his physical appearance and “ inteseness of his pleasure” (Cheever, 1964) in order to illustrate his feelings. At the end of the story writer describes Neddy as someone whose “arms were lame and legs felt rubbery and ached at the joints” (Cheever, 1964) . This clearly shows that Neddy has become weaker and less flexible as time passed
Therefore, Ned had to learn from the ones that taught Ned to become a cattle thief and bush ranger. “As role models he had his uncle and cousin. If they taught anything, it wasn’t how to be an honest law abiding citizen. A dozen of his relative had criminal records.” (Wilkinson, 2002, p. 10). Just like what is expected Ned became a horse and cattle thief, but that didn’t last long. He was sent to prison for receiving a stolen horse that he didn’t know. After two years of hard life in prison, Ned decided to never go there again. Therefore Ned decided to get a job at a timber mill. Ned spent the last three years of hard work at his job, he was a trusted worker and overseer. Even so every time a horse or cattle went missing, the police would always blame it on Ned or his family. Some might’ve been true, but most of them were fake, yet regardless of true or false Ned still had to take the consequence. Nothing will change if he lived his life being harass. For this reason, he became a
water, curved and smooth and green.'; This seems to illustrate the peacefulness of the situation, almost creating a lazy, calm atmosphere. However, the imagery within “The Swimmer'; is quite opposite. “The Swimmer'; tends to portray a scene of force, as there is no evidence of the peaceful interaction between man and water as found in “Lone Bather.'; Evidence of such force ...
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 ...
After reading the first chapter of Mark Ferguson’s short story, “A Drowning” I already knew that I would not like the story. It is an example of a lifeguard’s nightmare, finding a drowning victim without a way to save them. The fact that the narrator is painfully reliving the story makes me tense, especially when thinking about dangerous situations that could happen while I am working as a lifeguard and the effects it could have on me. To conclude, the story made me more and more uncomfortable each time the the victim was put in further danger and especially uncomfortable when he never came back up which made the story difficult for me to read.
The ocean is mysterious to mankind. The unfathomable vastness of the ocean intrigues humanity into exploring it. In life, the immense possibilities that lie in the future compel us to reach for the stars. In the poem “The Story” by Karen Connelly, an individual willingly swims into deep waters even though they are fearful of what may exist in the waters. The swimmer later finds out that their fears were foolish, which illustrates the human tendency to venture into the unknown. The theme conveyed in this poem is that life is like a rough, uncertain, uncontrollable ocean that we must find get through with experience.
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.
Blythe, Hal, and Charlie Sweet. “An Historical Allusion In Cheever's 'The Swimmer'.” Studies In Short
Neddy’s character is very similar to Charlie from “Babylon Revisited”. Charlie was very fortunate, he lost both his wife and his daughter due to his uncontrollable alcoholism. However, after “controlling” his drinking problem, he decides that he wants nothing to do with his past life.... ... middle of paper ... ...
“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.
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.
Through symbolism the author shows us how Neddy goes from social drinking to destitution. Each stop at a neighbor’s pool gets progressively harder, but he keeps on. Neddy ignores these signs and becomes beaten and finally alone. This truly is a sad journey of a man who destroys himself through alcohol. As the story ends, Neddy realizes that he is alone. Will he change? Get help for his alcoholism? The author leaves us hanging, but at this point we know he is alone, everyone has abandoned him. Neddy has followed the stereotypical footsteps of an alcoholic.
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.
Cheever, John. "The Enormous Radio." Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. NY: HarperCollins, 1991.
his life where it has influences of his writing and how it did impact many people.
...or granted. Neddy's desire to swim home does not end the way he would like it to. He is at the end of his journey, and is now faced with reality. He is all alone, and has lost everything he thought made him successful. He started out as a social drinker just like everyone else. He started to need alcohol, and became an embarrassment to his family and friends. He drank more to avoid his problems. His alcoholism led to his affair, and the end of his marriage to Lucinda. His denial led to his desperate pleas for money and alcohol from his friends. He ruined his social and financial standing. In the end, Neddy Merrill destroyed his American dream.