The Swimmer

"The Swimmer" by John Cheever describes Neddy Merril's

"swim" home. Neddy is a husband and a father, he is also a

drunk. The story encompasses about twenty years of his life

of alcohol which ruined not only him but also his

relationship with his family. One day after waking up with a

hangover he drinks a little and decides to swim home. It is

obvious he is a drunk because he is constantly searching for

a drink on his swim home.

Neddy was a wealthy man living in a wealthy high class

neighborhood in Connecticut. He lived with his wife and

kids. He was popular and had material possessions. He was

living the good life, maybe too good. He was well respected

and could usually be found at one of the invite only parties

in his area.

Neddy awoke from with a hangover one day and decided to

swim home via the Lucinda river. The river was composed of

the pools of people in his neighborhood. It was his version

of "pool hopping" his way home. The story seems to take

place over the course of a day but is, in fact, a twenty

year period of his life in which alcoholism takes over his

life and causes his family to desert him. Each pool he hops

symbolizes a party he attended at that house some time over

the course of the twenty years. Some pools bring back good

memories with the parties which accompanied them. some not

so good such as the public pool which wouldn't accept him

because he didn't have the proper ID tag, they didn't want a

washed up drunk in their pool anyway. "Hey, you, you

without the identification disk, get outta the water" called

a lifeguard. He was becoming an outcast from society,

alcohol was ruining his life.

As the story progressed he noticed the seasons changing

and it bothered him. He was getting cold and lonely, the

way