The Swimmer John Cheever

By the time the alcohol touches the tongue, the storm has already begun. John Cheever’s relationship with alcohol presents itself throughout the short story “The Swimmer”, and uses the character, Ned Merrill, to represent the struggles he was experiencing. Addiction and the need for alcohol drove this character into a storm he couldn't retreat from. In “The Swimmer” Cheever uses a physical storm and the changes in the weather to show the path of drinking and becoming an alcoholic. The short story begins with joy and excitement, then turns into something casual and frequent, but eventually leads to misfortune and a misery. Nobody desires to be led to an unpleasant storm, that comes with drinking alcohol. Cheever uses nature and the storms to represent the life of an alcoholic.

“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.

In today’s society, alcohol has become one of the main necessities for people to create relaxation, confidence, and the ability to be social. In the short story “A Bartender Tells What Man Did to Booze, and Booze to Man”, an anonymous bartender gives an up close and personal account of his observations about the effects alcohol has on men. He emphasizes the change in their character after a few drinks. Koren Zailckas from Smashed shares a memoir of her life describing her relationship with alcohol abuse and the problems that it caused for her. Although certain types of alcohol are used to support good health, it is the excessive consumption and misuse that leaves people dependent resulting in significant social, physical, and mental

Richard Wagamese displays the harmful effects of alcohol abuse, not only physically but mentally too. The protagonist of the novel, “Saul Indian Horse,” finds his happiness in alcohol after he couldn’t find it in hockey anymore. He claims the he “spoke less and drank more” (p.181) and that he was “a caricature everyone sought to avoid” (p.181). After many years of alcohol abuse, Saul had lost everything he had.

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, symbolism plays a key role in crafting the theme of the novel. Fire is a multifaceted and powerful symbol. The Tree of Life is a strong biblical allusion used throughout the story. Bradbury metaphorically describes books as birds many times in the novel as well. Together, these symbols are used to develop the theme of change being possible if one expands their knowledge and is free to create their own opinions

Why do people drink alcohol, is it to feel the effects, or “cause it is cool”? These are just some reasons, but these reason have lead to major problem. The problem is alcoholism or simple misusing alcohol. This issue is present in the short story, The Swimmer by John Cheever. The protagonist, Neddy Merrill starts drinking at a party one day and he makes a goal to swim through all the pools on his way home. While he swims the happy view of his life starts to turn dark and he realizes that his happy views of his life is just an illusion. When he realizes this, it is already too late and he starts to see that he has lost everything due to his drinking. The misuse of alcohol is present in the quote “He had been swimming and now he was breathing

The quote from John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” shows how the protagonist, Neddy, fails to realize and accept the fact of reality, and only tries to escape from it. As the narrator indicates that Neddie is actually incapable of realizing the rudeness from the caterer’s barkeep and the mistress, readers might presume that Cheever is actually using these two characters to present the issue of social class and love as both are inevitably connected with the reality that the protagonist couldn’t dare to face. However, the issue of love and social class are actually part of the reason that why the process of growing up is so painful to the young as they start to realize that reality is cruel as no one is actually free in society and people are all restricted

The meaning of a happy and prosperous life can take on different forms based on the value and belief of an individual. For Neddy Merrill, the main character in “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, prosperity is solely associated with wealth and social standing. In this essay, I will argue that contrasting images of the public and private pools, encountered by Neddy swimming across his upper-class neighbourhood, reflect his obsession with material and social success, which ultimately deserted him in desperation at the end of the story. In “The Swimmer”, the private pools owned by Neddy’s neighbours are associated with pleasant images, which serve to highlight Neddy’s obsession with affluence and high social standing.

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.

I found this short story strange because I didn’t understand the point of the story. Why does Ned want to swim in everyone’s pool until he reaches the house that is 8 miles away? I am surprised that all the pools that he swims in the owner’s do not get mad at him for swimming in their pool since they do not know Ned. I feel bad for him when he was swimming the Lucinda River and the bystanders were throwing beer cans at him. Why were they doing that to Ned? Did he do something to them that they did not like? It seems it would be awkward to just be swimming with strangers since the old couple and Ned were swimming naked together in the pool. Along the way he overhears comments about him realizes that he has suppressed in his memory a lot of

The First constituent of building an emotional intelligence is self awareness. Having a clear perception of personality including: strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs motivation, and emotions is what it takes to be truly self-aware. Once gaining this skill one can begin to understand how others perceive them. The protagonist in John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” sheds light on the pitfalls of having a lack of self-awareness. Neddy, the protagonist, finds himself to be a victim of the inevitable passage of time and his lack of self-awareness has caused his life to descend into a pitiful state.

     "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 Swimmer” revolves around one character named Neddy Merrill aka Neddy, who is on an swimming adventure. From the beginning, Neddy Merrill had been drinking and crashing parties at several neighbor’s homes. Every time that he reached a new house he jumped in their pool, swam laps, drank, and had short conversations. Neddy encounters several interesting people and was always in a rush to leave. However, the couple then expressed their sorrow for Neddy’s misfortunes (losing the house and his children). Neddy, however, had no idea what was going on and he got up and left. Similarly, Neddy’s stop at his ex-mistress’s home. He knew that she would give him a drink and comfort. When he arrived, he suddenly could not remember whether he and the woman broke off their affair a day before, a month before, or even a year before. He did not appear to know what was going on around him or maybe he was living in the past.

Alcohol plays a large part in the reckless and careless lives of Hemingway’s novel. Their overuse of alcohol allows them to not care about their problems and to help them get over their problems. The struggle with doubt in themselves is what continues to make them drink, ultimately living out this reckless and careless

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, once declared “Lost time is never found again.” This quote ties to the meaning of how people frequently let time seep through their hands. John Cheever’s "The Swimmer" portrays this through the eyes of suburban man Neddy. Neddy is the average ‘Joe’ of most suburban households. Life in suburbia is repetitive in most scenarios, and humans can easily get lost in the monotonous adventure known aslife. Time leaks away from his figure, and he is not sure of he is the one changing too fast, or the world around him. "His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption" (Kozikowski) supports this cause.