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Alcoholism In John Cheever's The Swimmer

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Every person experiences their own struggles and faces their own internal battles, which they must overcome every day. Neddy Merrill, an alcoholic man, tries to swim home by travelling to different neighbors’ homes and swimming in their pools throughout John Cheever’s story “The Swimmer”, faces the mental and physical struggles of alcoholism. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “Interpreter of Maladies”, Mrs. Das embodies a selfish mother who cannot face the responsibilities and realities of her life. She has to face the pain and guilt she holds inside caused by cheating on her husband with his best friend. The two characters show surprising parallels to the internal struggles people go through every day, such as emotional distance and unnecessary …show more content…

Although he seems to be on good terms with his wife, Lucinda, in the beginning, it is later revealed that she and her children left him because of the problems associated with his drinking. He ends up feeling so lost and unattached that he cannot even remember that he sold his house or is living all alone. He not only experiences emotional distance from his family, but also from his neighbors. The narrator begs the question, “Was he losing his memory, had his gift for concealing painful facts let him forget that he sold his house, that his children were in trouble, and that his friend had been ill?” (Cheever 543). The question sums up the most probable reason for his emotional distance: drinking to forget the pain he endures. During her time in India, Mrs. Das also experiences the same feeling of aloofness. She feels immense pain throughout the story because of the fact that she had cheated on her husband with his best friend, and as a result had Bobby. It is not until Mr. Kapasi, the family’s driver and tour guide, promulgates her feelings by asking her: “Is it really pain you feel, Mrs. Das, or is it guilt?” (Lahiri 99) that she confronts her guilt, and now begins to change her ways. She starts to care about her children more, especially her neglected son

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