by Claire_Wolfe

Created on: July 30, 2011   Last Updated: August 05, 2011

The Swimmer is a short story written by John Cheever and was published in 1964. It tells the story of Ned, who one Sunday afternoon decides to swim across the county. He encounters all sorts of different people and circumstances along the way until he finally reaches his home.

The story itself if quite straightforward, but there is an underlying metaphor underneath. In the beginning, it seems to be quite random, with people sitting around a pool side moaning about how much they drank the night before. The phrase ‘I drank too much last night’ is repeated at least three times in the first paragraph and the word ‘drunk’ appears in italics each time. This is to emphasize the mood of the people sat around the pool and how bad they are feeling at having drunk too much. It also shows the society and class of the people who are sat around the pool.

Then the chracter of Ned appears, who is also sat around the pool and is a sprightly young person. He is described as having slid down the banisters that morning and slapping the bottom of a bronze statue. While sitting at the pool with the other guests, he has an idea that he is going to swim home in a stream that he calls the ‘Lucinda River’ after his wife. There is no description of where he lives – whether it’s a town or in the country, but this seems like it could be an absurd idea. It is just a fleeting idea that he could reach his home by water as if it is an easy task.

Ned sets off on his quest in just his bathing shorts and visits all the neighbours’ swimming pools so he can swim a length and move on. It is a sunny afternoon and he is greeted by each family warmly and offered plenty of drinks. Then a storm happens and Ned has to shelter until it’s over and this is the turning point in his journey. From here onwards the journey goes bad.

The story is split into two sections – the first section is where it’s all sunny and bright and Ned is greeted warmly. The second section starts with an outsider's view of the situation and describes what they would see if they drove past Ned in the street and it’s very bleak.

The journey that is described in the story is a metaphor for the journey of life. Although he wasn’t a child when he started the journey, Ned was full of energy and found it no problem to swim the pools and walk the distances between them. But as the journey moves on and Ned gets closer to home, he finds it harder to fit in

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>