The Swimmer

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, such as the sources of the water in the various pools he swims in.…

Harry Swimmer and the Mitey Riders Indoor and outdoor arenas, sprawling pastures, horse stalls, and friendly horses make up a stable in Waxhaw North Carolina. Owned by Harry Swimmer and his wife, Misty Meadows Mitey Riders offers equine-assisted therapy to children with special needs. The children ride horses, play games, and make friends, all while developing social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills. He has been running this program for over 20 years with the aim of helping children.…

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…

I’ve been a competitive swimmer since I was eight, and the lessons I’ve learned from the sport are invaluable. Compassion, leadership, grit. But for the first few years, I was mostly in it for the rewards. I loved going to meets and winning ribbons; practice not so much. However, something changed, I eventually learned to appreciate the daily struggle of swimming and began to focus on the lessons beyond the returns. There’s one particularly brutal swim practice that I attribute my change in…

In “The Swimmer,” John Cheever portrays the emotional state of an alcoholic as he devolves further into his addiction. The story follows a man called Ned Merrill who lives in a suburban neighborhood with his wife and kids; in the story, he decides to swim across town using all the pools in the area, and he encounters many of his neighbors during the journey. In this paper, I will argue that Ned’s journey swimming through the pools represents his devolution into alcoholism. This portrayal is…

Aristotle once said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” (BrainyQuote, 2018). As a swimmer, I find a great deal of validity in this. Those who are not involved in this sport, often tend to overlook its complexities and the adversity one must endure regularly, both internally and externally. This often starts with the preparation of a long weeks’ worth of grueling late-night practices, during which you simply have nothing more to give. All the way to the…

Illusion vs Reality in “The Swimmer” The Swimmer by John Cheever is an intriguing piece that leads you down different thought paths as you are reading it. Neddy, Lucinda, Donald and Helen Westerhazy had been drinking for a while and were all saying that they’ve had too much to drink. It was a beautiful day and at first everything seems normal then the main character Neddy thought that perhaps a long swim might celebrate its beauty. So Neddy Merrill decided that he is going to go home from the…

I’ve always been a strong swimmer; I’ve always been determined and a believer, but I can't say I had ever thought about winning state. I was twelve years old in the summer of 2015, which turned out to be one of the most important and eventful summers of my life. I woke up on Thursday morning at 6:00, ready to start the first day of my state meet. The meet would take place at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wisconsin; lasting a full four days, starting on Thursday and ending…

The Swimmer by John Cheever is about Neddy Merrill, a man that goes through an aquatic journey that leads to the discovery of his true self. Neddy Merrill is a middle age man with a “slenderness of youth” he is a likeable person Mrs. Graham and Enid Bunker describe his visit as a “a marvelous surprise” but when he decides to swim home from a friend 's pool party the way he views himself and the way others view him have changed. During Ned Merril journey it’s clear that time is passing faster…

The Swimmer- Compared and Contrasted Many books over the years have been turned into a movie. Many of the movies are that same as the book and many are completely different. But most movies have a little bit of both. Take for instance, ‘The Swimmer’. A little 10 page short story turned into a hour and a half long movie. So of course they had to add and take away information. But most of the time it is for us, the watchers, to understand the movie, better. When analyzing both the story and movie…