What Is The Theme Of The Swimmer By Sj Butler

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 swimming escapade or his seeming journey of self, pool by pool, reveals the facade of his idealized ‘reality’ and as a result, 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 Ned’s journey towards the truth. The truth that he had tried to avoid/deny is marked by the kindness of his friends, the weather, condition of his body

Blake Lively once said,“The most beautiful thing you can wear is confidence.” Have you ever had the confidence to do something unpredictable? Last year I was terrified of going to sea and when my dad asked if I wanted to go fishing with him, I had the confidence to say yes. The theme of the fictional story Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling is that confidence overcomes fear.

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.

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

Realized or not, it is in the innate nature of humans to fear something that they are unfamiliar with. A surgeon fears his first time in the operating room. An expecting mother is apprehensive of her first delivery. A new student is trepid about his first day at a new school. The fear of the unknown has for long defined and constrained the boundaries of societies and the actions of man, and has been, is, and will continue to shape and affect our decisions. Fear of the unknown creates, promotes, and maintains paranoia and disunity in a community in times of crisis.

Generally, an anti-hero is “a main character in a story who does not have the qualities that a hero usually has, such as being morally good” (Macmillan Dictionary). For a person who overcomes difficulties and fulfills his dream, there is still a possibility that the person is not considered a hero if he or she is against heroic values. In John Cheever’s “The Swimmer”, Neddy is not a traditional hero who is concerned and caring. Instead, he is classified as an antihero--a relatable figure in default of crucial heroic qualities. Neddy’s decision of swimming home is merely due to his self-interest and not a moral motivation. As an antihero, Neddy does not have the interest to serve people. By contrast, his journey is one of self-gratification and entertainment. Arthur Ashe, the great American tennis player once said, “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost”. In “The Swimmer”, Neddy devises a very dramatic plan to swim home, which represents The Hero’s Journey. However, he does not demonstrate Ashe’s dictum because he fails to display some essential heroic qualities such as empathy, determination, and tolerance. Ultimately, he is not a hero, though he does complete a hero’s journey of sorts.

Once I was afraid of bodies of water since I did not know how to swim, now I am in love with any activity that has to do with water. I was raised in the Dominican Republic, a caribbean island, where it is customary to throw one’s child in the deep end of a pool so that their natural instinct of swimming is awakened. I was not the case. My mother pushed me to the water and amazingly enough I did not panic. Instead of panicking, I accepted my fate and sunk down. After about 30 seconds in my cousin dove in a took me out. Once out of the water, I began to panic. Consequently, I began crying, shaking and screaming at my mother for throwing me into the pool. Shortly after that my mother placed me in swimming classes and everything changed.

It is as the result of our mind, that we are able to form mechanisms that can help us abandon the predestined fears ingrained within us, however, with these abilities comes

Water is probably my biggest fear. Not drinking water but giant body of water, like the ocean or a lake. For some odd reason I always think I am going to drown every time I get in any type of body of water. I think that if I am going to try and become less scared of water I need to learn how to do some stuff first. First, I probably need to learn to swim. I know how to “Doggy Paddle” but I don’t think that counts when it comes to swimming Atlantic or Pacific. Another thing I need to do is try not to worry as much when I go out on a boat or just go swimming. I get so stressed to the point that I can’t even have fun because I am so worried of drowning. I plan to reach my goals by doing a couple of things. How I plan on learning to swim is I’m going swim more in the summer in a swimming pool. I would go to a swimming class but I went to one when I was four, five, and six and it didn’t get me anywhere. The second thing that I am going to do is learn how to relax. Learning how to relax is going to be harder than learning to swim because I stress over the smallest

The swimmer’s journey is slower to him than the rest of the other characters in the story. Readers can tell that time is moving more quickly than Neddy believes it to be. Cheever states, “... he did not dive but went down the steps into the icy water and swam a hobbled sidestroke that he might have learned as a youth,” showing the change in weather because of the cold water and is another hint that helps the readers know that Neddy has grown old and is not the same lively young man. Neddy also sees the autumn constellation which he found odd because he still believed that it was summer. Cheever emphasizes that Neddy’s aging relates to the progression of nature. Neddy was bewildered because he expected to stay young forever and he cannot accept

Once fear is drawn up by the unknown, an individual will be forced through obstacles until fear is overcome. Obstacles are thrown in one’s path to get a reaction through

While describing my fear how “I’ve always hated the unknown”, I express how taking risks is a major fear of mine. By using this phrase, I am also acknowledging my anxiety, meaning that I understand how it limits me in terms of opportunities. I also emphasize the acceptance of my fear by understanding that “It’s all the same feeling”. Overtime I had repeatedly felt the strain of this unease and by admitting the anxiety, it increases my ability to overcome the

     "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 setting of “The Swimmer” is in the suburbs, describing the aquatic adventure of Neddy, an energetic and cheerful father and husband. After attending a cocktail party, he decided that he would swim his entire way home through various swimming pools. Through his adventures, the protagonist makes a great discovery that his marriage life is a great lie. The journey from the cocktail party to his home converts him from a vibrant man to an old impoverished man whose life is in a major crisis. As he arrives at his house, he finds his children and wife have abandoned him. Different settings intertwine to showcase the middle class crisis he was experiencing. In this sense, the setting of the story clearly depicts the ignorance that people have.

When one has a fear of something, one normally does not spend much time thinking about it, and it only affects one when one is forced to confront it.