Character Analysis Of The Swimmer

3. Go back to Figure 1, look at each stage, and predict where the antibodies in Annie’s blood could act to decrease synaptic function at the neuromuscular junction.

The Swimmer by John Cheever was published in 1964. The short story show the reader the emptiness many experienced during the mid-century white flight. The Swimmer gives a view into the life of Ned Merrill, an affluent suburban man’s life. Cheever uses symbolism, imagery, and tone to convey the theme of narcissism and suburban emptiness during the 1960’s.

In the short story, “The Swimmer,” John Cheever uses precise literary devices to emphasize the true meaning behind what the average reader might first gather. Throughout this short story, Neddy’s journey is recorded through what he does and how the time changes. His actions of “jumping from pool to pool” show Neddy’s incapabilities of growing up and the falsehood that he lives in. John Cheever wants the readers to understand that Neddy’s life is only a downfall as the years go by, and that his outlook on life doesn’t change until he realizes all his actions have left him alone. To set the tone of the story, the author uses metaphors of different objects to show Neddy’s changes in life, change of diction to set a tone from excellence to weakness, and Neddy’s life paralleled through the imagery described in this short story.

Evocative and visceral, Irving Layton’s “The Swimmer” follows the impassioned swim of a man as a metaphor for man’s relation to nature. The poem begins with the titular swimmer breaking away from his vessel and into the sea. Layton elaborates upon the swimmer’s journey underwater, as a mystical intercourse between man and Earth. In the final stanza, the man is expelled by the sea and returned to land. In “The Swimmer”, through the description of an incestuous relationship communicated through erotic imagery, Layton expounds on the theme of the connected, yet ultimately detached, relationship between man and nature.

In “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, he symbolizes Neddy’s drinking problems as swimming pools. Neddy then realizes that it wasn't just wasn't one summer day that he swam, is was an illusion to his drinking problems that lasted a span of six months to a year. He realized when he got home that it had been empty for many years and that he has been in his own world for quite some time now. Through the use of symbolism of swimming, the seasons, and nudity, Cheever coveys that life is too short to let time pass by without having your priorities

“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.

The short story of “The Swimmer,” by Cheever begins with imagery to provide the backdrop and the setting for the protagonist, Ned Merrill. The descriptions provided by Cheever give us the idea of a suburb where many people engage in playful behavior, individuals are generally wealthy, and in many instances engage in some overindulgence with alcohol.

In Frank Perry’s 1986 film adaptation of “The Swimmer”, Cheever, Neddy, an upper middle class man who decides to swim across his neighbors’ pools home only to discover that his house no longer belongs to him and he is no longer a part of his family, is characterized as a very suave and robust man. The first scene of The Swimmer emphasizes Neddy’s vitality by the ways in which the camera encompasses Neddy’s body and that of his friends, the addition of two characters as well as additional interactions between Neddy and the women in this text. This contrasts the characterization of Neddy in the short story in the sense that Cheever’s Neddy is not presented as this sexual and aggressively masculine figure.

The Cuban Swimmer is a play written by Micha Sanchez-Scott. The play follows the journey of Margarita a 19-year-old a Cuban swimmer who is in a swimming race from Long Beach to Catalina Island. Margarita’s family is with her throughout the race following her in a small boat. Her family tries to support her and encourage her, but they seem to be stressing her instead. Margarita tries to bring honor to her Race and family by breaking through stereotypes by winning the race. The literary elements in the play The Cuban Swimmer are components that give the play a unique perspective. The Cuban Swimmer is a one-act play composed of seven scenes. These seven scenes are complete with family drama that leads to a thrilling series of events. The Cuban Swimmer by Micha Sanchez-Scott is

     "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.

Cuban Swimmer is a one-act play which uses the concept of magical reality style. The drama portrays the struggles of a Cuban family in America. Margarita Suarez, the main character is competing in the Women's swim to Catalina. The rest of the family Eduardo Suarez the father of margarita, her mother Aida, Simon her brother and Abuela her grandmother have come to give her moral support. The writer seems to have written this play out of the experience because she was an immigrant at some point in her life. Milcha Sanchez has depicted themes of religion, relationships, ethnicity, identity crisis and persistence in her play.

Looking at “The Swimmer” through the Marxist lens suggests that the story is really about how easily social statuses can change under different circumstances and how blinding hubris can be. Neddy Merrill is clearly a man of means in the story. For one thing, it is clear he can afford to spend time during midday to enjoy the afternoon by the poolside. Living in an upper-middle class suburban neighborhood has given Neddy many benefits. But his extravagant lifestyle takes a turn for the worse once he starts his journey home. As Neddy swims home, cold and half-naked, he begins to “crash”

Both the movie and story of The Swimmer show the many facets of Neddy Merill’s character, however the movie took the information given in the story and exaggerated it to the extent that Neddy could be a different person. Neddy’s relationship with Shirley reveals his womanizing ways, but the movie portrays his personality much more negatively than the short story. Another varying aspect of Neddy is that in the story he is more of an isolationist while in the movie he seems determined to social as much as possible. Finally, in the movie, Neddy’s unstable mental health is shown more thoroughly and obviously than in the story. Yet, the same theme of growing old is prevalent throughout the film and story.

In the short story “ The Swimmer,” John Cheever expresses the idea that Neddy Merrill can lose everything if he denies reality. Cheever achieves this by employing various symbols during Merrill's cross county journey. The main symbols are the weather and seasons. Cheever uses the changing of seasons to distort the character’s sense of time and show the progression of Merrill’s life. In the beginning of the story the setting is described as a midsummer day and by the end of the story, Merrill is able to see the constellations of late autumn, meaning winter is near. The illusion of time allows the reader to understand the extent of Merrill’s state of denial, as his beliefs begin to contradict the reality around him. While Cheever uses the weather to describe how Merrill feels. When it is warm Merrill feels happy and youthful. However, when it becomes colder Merrill begins to feel weak and sad. To emphasize Merrill’s state of denial, Cheever employs the motif of alcohol in “The Swimmer;” the reader notices that when Merrill is presented with a reality that he deems unpleasant, he uses alcohol to enhance his state of denial. Through the critical lens of New Historicism, the reader can infer the author’s purpose for writing “The Swimmer” is to criticize the lifestyles of affluent people in the 1950s and early 1960s. Cheever focuses on the party lifestyle of affluent communities and how the use of alcohol allows them to deny the reality around their current misfortunes.

Watching the screen, many children and adults are glued to the swimmers that race each other in the Olympics. The swimmers are young and strong, but many do not know who these swimmers are. Adding on to what they do not know contains the history of swimming in the glorified Olympics. The backstory of this sporting event shows the progression and improvement of swimming because swimming evolved through the Olympics. This includes the beginning, improvement, and modern Olympic swimming sport.