The Swimmer John Cheever

The Swimmer by John Cheever, is a short story, written in the late 50’s, early 60’s. The story takes place in a high class suburb, and is an extreme metaphor for the life of drunkenness and negligence. The story is about a mid-aged man named Neddy Merrill. One Sunday, after a drunken Saturday night party, Ned is found drinking and laughing with his wife and other close friends. He decides to swim the eight-mile route back to his home, bouncing from one pool to another. But as the tides change, Ned will discover that more has changed than he has hoped. The story itself is set in third person limited. Although, at certain points in the story, the narrator switches to second person, in order to express or draw the reader into the situation. “You might have heard it whispered by the parishioners leaving church, heard it from the lips of the priest himself, struggling with his cassock in the vestiarium…” {Cheever 210} The narrator uses third person limited in order to portray the events of the plot, while also hiding important themes and events until the end. For example, when Ned is swimming through the old couple’s pool, Mrs. Halloran mentions, “We’ve been terribly sorry to hear about all your misfortunes, Ned” …show more content…
Also, the narrative would be way too clear for the story to hold water. The audience would totally understand and it would ruin the surprise of the ending, because in later events, Ned comes home to find that his wife and daughters have left him, and it’s been an entire year since he left. Without the point of view being third person limited the readers would know that the pools represent more than pools. They not only represent his friends lives, but they represent stages of Ned’s life and downfall. “The force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves and scattered them over the grass and water. Since it was midsummer the tree must be