Literature Assignment: "The Swimmer" by John Cheever (Essay Sample)

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"The Swimmer" by John Cheever
Introduction
Cheever is the author of “The Swimmer’’. The story begins when the central character, Neddy Merrill is relaxing at his friend‘s home swimming pool, the Westerhazys. Suddenly, an eccentric thought comes to him trying to imagine that there are several swimming pools between his home and the current place (Bloom 23). He then tries to imagine why he did not swim at the pools at his home as he traveled over eight miles to go swimming. When Neddy arrived at his first stop, he is welcomed genially by Mrs. Graham who then tells him that she had been trying to reach him over phone throughout the morning in vain. She is so delighted that he had the chance to stop.
Reaction to the Story
The author of the story “The Swimmer’’ John Cheever is renowned for his fictional world short stories and novels. He bases his stories on the world where privilege and wealth do not shield his character from disaster, heartbreak and despair. In many cases, he sets his works in the Northern part of the United States of America, normally the wealthy outskirts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Cheever’s characters are well-groomed, white, and affluent and a little short on elitism and snobbery (Butler, Pusch and McDowall 67). Adultery relationships, family feuds and family drama particularly among brothers are so common in the story. Even though the characters are living a wealthy life, finding happiness seems tough bearing that it does not offer them or comforts they need for happiness. In each social encounter that takes place, alcohol is the common thing as people value it too much as a uniting factor.
Therefore, looking unto the story “The Swimmer” we note the world that traps upper middle-class individuals and the continual discomfort that affects them. When the story begins, Cheever gives us full details of Neddy’s world. Here he mentions a lot of things from, golf course, the Church, Audubon group, tennis court and grownups who are engaging in excessive alcohol drinking. Immediately, this helps us to understand that many of these adults are living in a privileged and wealthy world in that they can spend a lot of their time drinking gin as they relax on the side of the pool, dependable of the positions they hold in the society. Even though they are enjoying bloated comfort and security, they are living in a punitive social life whereby they are always unhappy with tender relationships always (Beuka and Robert 93). For instance, Neddy experiences a lot of undefined adversity that forces him to fall in ranks. This was evident when he is even rejected by a bartender and regarded it a serious offense. With time, Neddy loses friends and does not even know their whereabouts or problems. He is unfaithful to his wife, and later leaves his mistress ending up in a lonely life. The greater part of this story revolves around tender relationships and sadness which makes life so meaningless.
This story helps us to learn many lessons which are applicable in the real live situation. Many people tend to change their lifestyles once they become wealthy and gain higher social classes in the community. As in “The Swimmer”, Neddy finds himself engaged in a luxurious lifestyle where he would attend pool parties often. He spends wastes a lot of time drinking and relaxing with wealthy friends by their home swimming pools. This highly influences his character and even starts to ignore his long-term wife (Rubenstein and Larson 213). Evidently, much of thing that the characters involve in is extramarital relationships, which breaks many families. In many cases, the adulterous behavior led to family feuds and dramas. This could have been avoided if at all the characters maintained a good life that depicts respect for their loved once. As a result, there are many relationship breakups which leave the affected parties in despair.
Evidently, this tells us that wealthy cannot afford us happiness at all times as many people may think. Richness at times leads to the much social evil which denies people happiness. Usually, it is thought that being help rich people solve many challenges that deny them happiness. Contrary, to this common, believe, many of those who were living a lavish life, spend most of time drinking alcohol. Excessive drinking further made relationships very fragile as friendship ended at any time (Cheever and Bailey 64). This was evident when distanced by people whom he never thought they will ignore him at one point in life. Thus, it is clear in the story that people lived a life which they never minded what will happen tomorrow. This made their characters intolerable in the society where they were previously accorded a lot of respect.
Relation to Real Life
When I read this story over and over again, it reminds me about one of my old friend Ben. He comes from a wealthy family and him being the only son; he gets all favors from his parents who want to see their son live a comfortable life. It happened that during a math class in high school, our teacher organized groups which we were to use for discussions. Ben was among those whom we were in the same group. As we had time to interact with the group, we started developing a bond which later made us strong friends. As we did everything together, I came to realize that Ben was financially well off as he was always willing to pay for my lunch and any other shopping that we did together. I was so happy that I at least found a friend who can support me financially whenever I had a problem, and indeed he was always there for me.
One day during the interschool sports, Ben requested me to go with him to his home. Being a friend, I did not hesitate as I longed to know real how they lived. Truly, on arriving at his home, I knew that they were living a better and happy life much better than my family. He took me to his room and went back to the sitting room only to come with some three bottles of beer. He then gave one to me and welcomed me for a drink. At first, I was so hesitant to sip, but since I did not want to disappoint him, I took the drink. I developed unfamiliar feelings which gave me a lot of false courage as we went back to ch...