19th Century Swimming

For this essay, I am going to be discussing the short story “Swimming” found on the New Yorker, and written by T. Cooper. I have chosen this story for many reasons, and among those reasons is the personal sadness I felt when I first read the story, almost as if the universe was placing a certain theme in my life, that only the main character could possibly understand. I am talking about running, the god given instinct felt by all men, inherent in the nature of fear, and brought out in all who feel sadness in its full intensity. Though in my short life I can not compare the sadness I have felt with that of losing a child at my own hand, but if I had been placed in that situation, if fate had tempted my soul with such a sequence of events, I would like to think I could find the strength to endure and the courage to not abandon all I had previously known. Yet I am able to reconcile the themes of grief, the mode of recovery, and the longing to escape such a terrible tale. I think in this piece, as I will discuss in later parts, the author was able to put into words a transformation we rarely get to observe in closeness, the kind of transformation that turns a kind man into a “just man” the kind of death that turns this world from a beautiful and happy place into a world that is closing in on our main character, that is forcing him to surface temporarily and gasp for air, much like he does when he finds peace in the water, wading breath after air, after sea. I firmly believe that

In the short allegory, ‘The Swimmer’ (1968), John Cheever explores the grandeur of the title character, Ned Merrill, a posh middle-aged man on the brink of alcoholism who lives in a world devoid of spiritual meaning and filled with materialism. Throughout the story, Ned’s path or more aptly put, his seeming journey of self, pool by pool, is one that is indubitably complex – it resonates with the concept of uprooting himself from a semblance of idealized ‘reality’ that he created, into an epoch of incredulity whereby he begins to realize that with every stroke comes disillusionment. This paradigm shift, due to Neddy’s spontaneous and irrational idea of swimming home, leads to an existential crisis whereby the course of his trajectory

In The Swimmer a short story by John Cheever a man named Neddy Merrill decides to swim across every pool in the county naming his route the Lucinda River after his wife. As he goes on this journey some of his neighbors are nice, some show pity, and others show distaste for him. Throughout the story Cheever gives subtle hints that Neddy is disoriented as he doesn’t remember key details of things that have happened to his friends in the area. At the end of the story a disoriented Neddy reaches his home to find it empty, with his family gone. Cheever uses this short story to critique the way of life in the upper class suburbs of America that contributed to the social demise of Neddy Merrill

"Swimming instruction, which in time became swimming practice, was grueling, but there was the deep pleasure of doing a stroke with increasing ease and speed" (Martell 10).

This essay will concentrate on looking at the ethnic and class divide within the sports subculture of American society, and how it reflects American Society as a whole. When examining any society there is a always a broad area to cover, while looking at America’s society I will be looking at the arguments that it is the ‘land of the free’ a ‘new nation’ which immigrants flocked to start a new life in a country of much ‘opportunity’. I will be using the sport in the 19th century to examine just how much America was a land of opportunity and of the free, and whether it differed from the attitudes in countries from around the rest of the world.

There are many different varieties of swimming strokes; a freestyle stroke, a breaststroke, butterfly stroke, back stroke, side stroke, as well as a elementary side stroke. Each of these range in proficiency. Beginning with the freestyle stroke, you must first begin concentrating on each and every specific aspect of your stroke, You find your head position, reach forward, rotate

The journey of competitive swimming started at the age of eight for my local `neighborhood team. I exhibited great potential for the future, for I won nearly all my races. This seemed like the sport

In many ways in the 19th century Sports became a big force challenging social hierarchies because African-Americans as well as women wanted to also be involved in sporting activities like their white male counterparts. This evidence is backed by the amount of hostility that many African Americans faced when participating in sporting activities in the threats given as well as for women because as women started to show more interest in participating many " scientific" studies appeared stating that participating would make it so women would not be able to bear children. This reaction showed the fear that white males had thinking of that they wanted to be on top of the social status quo giving white males less

As I previously mentioned, I will describe the four basic strokes that swimming consists of, such as the freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly

Swimming originally started at the Stone Age, but did not really become a proper sport until the early 19th century. In the 19th century, the National Swimming Society of Great Britain, or NSSGB began to have competitions.

     "The Swimmer" by John Cheever describes Neddy Merril's "swim" home. Neddy is a husband and a father, he is also a drunk. The story encompasses about twenty years of his life of alcohol which ruined not only him but also his relationship with his family. One day after waking up with a hangover he drinks a little and decides to swim home. It is obvious he is a drunk because he is constantly searching for a drink on his swim home.

The documentary “Swimming South” premiered on 29 January 2017, would have sent a shock through many of the viewers of channel 9’s weekly 60 minutes program. As it describes a threat that could cost the Australian tourism industry billions, the Irukandji jellyfish. The documentary makes the jellyfish out to be an alien type creature, doing well to capture the viewers’ attention on the matter, specifically showing examples of the deadliness of the jellyfish to provide fear in the minds of people.

The four primary swimming strokes are : freestyle stroke, breaststroke, backstroke, and the butterfly stroke.

The beginning of swimming in the Olympics dates back to the year 1896 in Athens. This is when swimming was introduced to the Olympic community as a competitive sport. Only men were allowed to compete against each other in four different freestyle events in open water. These events are

My hands dangle in mid-air, my googles snug against the border of my eyes, my mind empty as I stare into the sea of blue before me. The announcers voice echoes over the seemingly quiet deck. The faceless voice proceeds, “On your mark,” this sent the anxiety, and butterflies through my entire body as I gripped the rigged block. As my hands rest now on this pleated surface, I think of all the time and effort I had put in just for today. I knew that if everything went smoothly, I would drop a satisfactory amount of time. “Get set,” the changeless voice declares. My body now shifts my weight to my legs, my head moves into position, and my hands grip the block so bearish that my knuckles turn white. I repeat to myself, “two hand touch, it’s a