In the song “Swimming Pools” by Kendrick Lamar, he writes “Some people like the way it feels/ Some people wanna kill their sorrows/ Some people wanna fit in with the popular/ That was my problem”(Lamar), we see a very similar description of alcoholism in The Swimmer, by John Cheever, who also uses swimming pools as a metaphor for the hardships of being an alcoholic. Throughout The Swimmer, Cheever, writes using many motifs to show the narrator, Neddy Merrill’s, decline into becoming an alcoholic. One that comes up often is the source of the water in the number of pools Neddy swims in. The changes in the source of water is a beautiful illustration of Neddy’s unconscious decision to become an alcoholic and leave his family.
At the beginning …show more content…
He starts to drink so much that he decides to try and get clean, which we see when he visits the Welcher’s house and their pool is empty. However, Neddy is unsuccessful on his own, so he decides to get help by going to rehab, which Cheever writes as the public pool. Cheever wrote rehab as a public pool because it shows Neddy’s realization that he has an alcohol addiction and needs help. While Neddy is at the pool he talks about his hate of the environment, the lifeguards, and the many restrictions. Before Neddy can even get in the pool he needs to take a shower and clean off his feet, ”He took a shower, washed his feet in a cloudy and bitter solution”(732), Cheever’s decision to describe the water as a bitter solution is a great play on words because Neddy did not want to be in rehab, but he knew that he had to be and it was his only way of saving himself. Neddy repeatedly mentions his disgust of the chlorine in the pool describing it as reeking with the scent. Cheever wrote the public pool as rehab for Needy because public pools often have chlorine in them. Chlorine is used in pools to purify and clean the water, Neddy’s dislike of the pool shows his internal dilemma on whether or not he should get clean, but he is struggling with not being able to …show more content…
Once he leaves the public pool, he makes his way to the Halloran’s estate, the home to an older couple who are accused of being Communists, which Cheever uses to show that the people he is hanging out with are viewed as not very safe. Neddy describes the Halloran’s pool as being one of the oldest in the country, “a fieldstone rectangle, fed by a brook”(733), which is a representation of how out of hand, his drinking has gotten, and that his access to alcohol has become free flowing like the brook. With all of the other pools there was some divergence that limited the amount of water allowed at once, but because the brook is part of nature and cannot be controlled. Neddy even notices that the Halloran's pool is different than all the other saying “It had no filter or pump and its waters were the opaque gold of the stream”(733), Cheever wrote that the water had no filter or pump because Neddy basically drank his life and was no longer able to drink alcohol that had been “pumped and filtered”, but was drinking any that he could find at all. He writes the river as opaque gold, which represents the hazy state of his memory and his mind, but the river has also changed colors from blues and greens to a golden color like beer or other types of alcohol, representing that everything has become about
At the beginning …show more content…
He starts to drink so much that he decides to try and get clean, which we see when he visits the Welcher’s house and their pool is empty. However, Neddy is unsuccessful on his own, so he decides to get help by going to rehab, which Cheever writes as the public pool. Cheever wrote rehab as a public pool because it shows Neddy’s realization that he has an alcohol addiction and needs help. While Neddy is at the pool he talks about his hate of the environment, the lifeguards, and the many restrictions. Before Neddy can even get in the pool he needs to take a shower and clean off his feet, ”He took a shower, washed his feet in a cloudy and bitter solution”(732), Cheever’s decision to describe the water as a bitter solution is a great play on words because Neddy did not want to be in rehab, but he knew that he had to be and it was his only way of saving himself. Neddy repeatedly mentions his disgust of the chlorine in the pool describing it as reeking with the scent. Cheever wrote the public pool as rehab for Needy because public pools often have chlorine in them. Chlorine is used in pools to purify and clean the water, Neddy’s dislike of the pool shows his internal dilemma on whether or not he should get clean, but he is struggling with not being able to …show more content…
Once he leaves the public pool, he makes his way to the Halloran’s estate, the home to an older couple who are accused of being Communists, which Cheever uses to show that the people he is hanging out with are viewed as not very safe. Neddy describes the Halloran’s pool as being one of the oldest in the country, “a fieldstone rectangle, fed by a brook”(733), which is a representation of how out of hand, his drinking has gotten, and that his access to alcohol has become free flowing like the brook. With all of the other pools there was some divergence that limited the amount of water allowed at once, but because the brook is part of nature and cannot be controlled. Neddy even notices that the Halloran's pool is different than all the other saying “It had no filter or pump and its waters were the opaque gold of the stream”(733), Cheever wrote that the water had no filter or pump because Neddy basically drank his life and was no longer able to drink alcohol that had been “pumped and filtered”, but was drinking any that he could find at all. He writes the river as opaque gold, which represents the hazy state of his memory and his mind, but the river has also changed colors from blues and greens to a golden color like beer or other types of alcohol, representing that everything has become about