The Fleeting of Social Status

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...

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...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.