John Cheever Essay

The Swimmer The Swimmer was originally a short story written by John Cheever. The story on the surface is about a wealthy man named Ned Merrill who decides to swim home to his wife Lucinda and two daughters using a string of swimming pools. However, when he arrives home he comes to an empty house. Using an in depth analysis, it is revealed that his “journey” is actually his decline in status, and effects of alcoholism. Ultimately it could be argued that the story shows the dangers of wealth and

The short story "Reunion" by John Cheever describes a son, Charlie, and his reunion with his father in New York and how Cheever uses a series of humor, pathos, and grotesque to create a blend throughout the short story and the tone, diction and theme also express the writer's overall purpose and meaning distinctly. At the beginning of the story, the boy explains how he has not seen his father for three years since his parents got divorced. "He was a stranger to me," but when he saw him, he felt

“The Best of Everything” by Richard Yates and “Another Evening at the Club” by Alifa Rifaat.” These two stories affected me the most and influenced my thinking in the most positive way. The story I enjoyed the least was “The Five Forty-Eight” by John Cheever. While it was my least favorite story, it did allow me to think about the message the author was trying to portray. “The Best of Everything” by Richard Yates was the story that I enjoyed the most because it felt familiar and relevant to my life

John Cheever’s once said “Homesickness is nothing. Fifty percent of people in the world are homesick all the time.” Perhaps this thought of homesickness was Cheever’s basis for writing his short story The Swimmer. Through the story of the main character Neddy, Cheever uses several literary devices to display two main themes. Cheever’s eclectic structure, tone, plot, symbols, motifs, and characters help to display the themes of the inevitable passage of time and the emptiness of suburbia. As Cheever

The movie The Swimmer is based on a short story by, John Cheever. However, some of the plots and symbolism in the movie are much different than those in the story. Some of the things that they change in the movie are, Neddy’s personality, family, his passion to stay young, his strange memory loss, and the youthful babysitter brought into the movie. Neddy’s personality in the short story is a guy who is impassive. In the movie, Neddy is an all-around guy; he communicates with everyone and enjoys

situation where one is questioning themself and who they truly are, can lead to many conflicts not just within themselves, but within the ones that are surrounding. In the story Blue Winds Dancing by Thomas Whitecloud and The Enormous Radio by John Cheever, both protagonists face conflicts that affect both themselves and the ones that surround them. The conflicts between the two stories are very prominent as they both show internal and external conflicts between the lives of two very different people

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

The Swimmer The Swimmer is a John Cheever tale of a man’s blurry and unclear progression in the later years of his life. A movie was later made based on the book. The two works mirror one another in terms of: theme, symbols and elements of subplot. Although they parallel each other in most ways, the movie strays from the path that the story cleared in a few instances. The movie adds in additional information, and portrays Neddy Merrill in a different, more cynical/childish light than the story

John Cheever’s story “The Enormous Radio” could be a modern allegory of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden due to its numerous parallels. Jim and Irene play the role of Adam and Eve, the radio hisses in their ears like a snake, and the information the couple learns from the radio is the fruit from the forbidden tree, tempting, but ultimately harmful. Before the Westcotts succumb to the temptations of the radio, their marriage appears to be perfect. They are happily married, have two children

The swimmer is the superior story. “The Drunkard” finds itself as the less superior story, due it’s simplicity. The story follows a basic story arc and applies to a plot that isn’t particularly creative, but may be a recognizable scenario to many readers. The speaker, Larry, is sent to a funeral with his father, in an attempt to stop his father from trying to drink afterwards. Predictably, it is a failed attempt, as without much regard to his son the father heads straight to the pub once the funeral