John Cheever's "The Swimmer"

Paper Summary:

The paper explains that, in John Cheever's "The Swimmer", protagonist Neddy Merril decides to use his county's swimming pools as a means of transportation back to his house. The author points out that, as Neddy travels from neighbor to neighbor, pool to pool, he goes through the dark underbelly of suburbia, discovering the confinement of both his and his community's lives. The paper relates that the constrictive nature of the suburbs is implicit in the idea of the pool itself. The author suggests that the pool is a subversion of nature; it's a construction by which water, the most natural of all earthly things and a necessity of life, is set within a rigid box or circle for the purposes of activity or leisure. The paper concludes that the suburbia of Cheever's story is a carefully constructed and constricted bubble that has long since lost its connection with nature and the natural, physical world.

From the Paper:

"The confinements of Neddy's surroundings are further highlighted by the progression of his journey. At the first pool, the water is green and warm, and the apples are in bloom; it's spring time and the water is comforting. From here, Neddy's progresses to the Bunkers' party, where he is welcome, and then to the Levy's, where the party has ended and the leaves fall from the trees in yellow and red tufts. By journey's end, the water has a "wintry gleam" and the sky above does not hold the summer stars, but rather Andromeda, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia, the constellations of winter."

More papers on John Cheever's "The Swimmer":

• Book Review # 107889 : "The Swimmer" by John Cheever"
• Essay # 36792 : "The Swimmer"
• Analytical Essay # 32383 : " "The Swimmer" and "The Sorrows of Gin"

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