“The Swimmer”
Where on earth would somebody choose to swim all the pools in his neighborhood? There must be something wrong with this person. One character in the short story, “The Swimmer,” written by John Cheever, accomplished his mission of wanting to swim all the pools back to his home a distance of 8 miles. The short story was written in 1964. He started his journey when he is energetic and youthful. During his journey of swimming, he interacted with neighbors who seem welcoming during the start initial stages. As the journey progressed, he is becoming less energetic, and people are not welcoming at first. He also remembered his misfortunes of losing money and family, but he ignored it. He finally reached home feeling weak, empty, and finds his family had left him. The authors wanted to convey how time passes so quickly when we indulge ourselves in the pleasure of the world and ignore our responsibilities. The author uses symbolism to convey his message clearly to the audience.
The authors used pools to represent the different periods Neddy goes through in his life. At the beginning of his voyage, he feels like a “legendary figure” in that he can accomplish all the things he wants (Cheever 727). He seemed active and robust as he swam at the beginning of the voyage and admired the pools, “Oh, how bonny and lush were the banks of the Lucinda River” (Cheever 726)! As he continued swimming from pool to pool become physically weak since he is unable to pull himself out of the pool without the use of the ladder as in the beginning. Instead of feeling warm, he now feels cold, which penetrates to his bones. In this period, he has grown old, and he is no longer respected as before since people such as Biswanger and bartenders snub him. Others feel pity for him because of his misfortunes, but he does realize he has suffered as he was busy having pleasure and ignoring his responsibilities. The season has also changed as the trees leave change color and drop.
The change in weather and seasons represented the changing circumstances in Neddy’s life. In the beginning, he feels warmth under the sun thinking only about his pleasures only. Along his journey, he experienced a storm, which was the turning point of his journey as, for the first time, he is alone outside, and he feels chilly, and the leaves have changed color and fallen, signifying the start of another season. For the first time, his happiness is gone and “peculiar sadness” (Cheever 730). The signs were now signifying the start of his downfall has started as the season and weather are not favorable to him. In his last pool, the water was freezing, meaning Autumn has arrived in full. The seasons’ cycle has been completed just the same way Neddy’s life is coming to an end.
The story of Neddy can be a great lesson to many people who indulge in the pleasures of the world. They take alcohol to forget about their misfortunes and run away from them. Instead, they should face their problems to find a solution when they are still young and energetic. Our families will also leave us when we do not give them full attention. The society will ignore us when we grow older without a family or being an irresponsible man. It also teaches us how life is short and time elapses quickly than we can imagine when we indulge ourselves in worldly pleasures.