The Swimmer Theme

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Why Our Lives Fall Apart

Occasionally people find that their life is like trying to navigate a trail in the fog, their life is moving forward, but with no apparent direction. The concept of being completely lost in one's existence is a concept of human nature, and is demonstrated in the story “The Swimmer” by John Cheever. Needy is lost in his life because he jumps into situations that eventually lead to failure, as well as denies the passing of time, causing the world around him to move forward without him in it.
In life, many situations seem as if they are full of potential and will lead to eternal happiness, but as time passes they become dull and fall apart. Cheever uses Neddy to comment this concept in human life. At the beginning …show more content…

Neddy’s journey, an event that should supposedly take no more than a day, covers a much longer span of time, possibly even multiple years. As Neddy is swimming, he is completely unaware of amount of time that is passing and summer turns to fall, “the force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves...he felt a peculiar sadness at this sign of autumn”(533). Neddy’s denial to the amount of time that has passed has also caused his wife and family to leave him “‘We’ve been terribly sorry to hear about all your misfortunes...you’d sold the house and that your poor children’”(535). Neddy’s response shows the severity of his situation as he has no recollection about what Mrs. Halloran is talking about “‘I don’t recall having sold the house..and the girls are at home’”(535). Neddy’s inability to provide for his family has caused him to drink away the days, denying the passing of time, and as a result his recollection of time is so tangled that he is unable to comprehend any of the events that have taken place in his near past. When Neddy’s life started to fall apart, he refused to deal with them and instead dealt with them like a child, ignored them, causing his whole life to fall out from under him. Neddy is a victim of the inevitable passing of time, resulting in him being so alienated from his old life, he doesn't even understand his own

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