The Swimmer
The author used a witty technique which kept me engaged throughout the entire story. Broken down this story is nothing less than dry piece of writing that is seemed to go on forever. However, somehow, the author John Cheever kept me interested as I was excited find out the exact force behind Ned’s determination. Not only did I want to understand his determination I also wanted to understand the moral of Ned’s journey. Often times the author went back and forth which made it somewhat hard for me to follow. The narrator explains the character Ned and his lifestyle well it is not explained all at once instead it is explained to the reader throughout the story. This allowed the reader to better follow along and understand certain points of Ned’s journey. For example, the reader is informed about Ned’s wife Lucinda when it is explained that the stream he was to swim through was to be named by him after his wife. The reader is later informed about an old mistress (Shirley Adams) as she was one of the last neighbor’s he would visit on his journey. In this specific narrative writing the reader knows more about Ned and his journey then he does. I feel that the author wrote this narrative in this way so the reader would stay connected to the story until the end.
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The “swimmer” isn’t a negative connotation towards the upper class, rather represents the other side of the American Dream where life isn’t so perfect. The narrative follows Neddy’s journey from pool to pool allowing the reader to experience the reality which Neddy yet isn’t able to. The author is merely expressing how it feels to be in an environment when everything that used to be perfect isn’t so anymore. The author uses the many pools to communicate the lifestyle of suburban couples, to show the different types of personalities that came with wealth and power. As the reader we are able to compare his once high social status to now a dark, sad, lonely life. Throughout the story, we can feel the time passing before our eyes; we can feel Neddy losing heart, growing weary, and getting old. The swimmer signifies the journey of rich white man that once lived the perfect American Dream and didn’t notice as time flew by and he lost everything that ever meant anything to him.
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