Summary: The Swim Of Deception

The Swim of Deception One day in midsummer, a group of friends, Neddy and Lucinda Merrill and Helen and Donald Westerhazy, are hung over and are complaining about how they drunk too much the previous night. Ned decides that he wants to go swim in the pools that are spread throughout his county and imagines himself to be an explorer. In the beginning of the story Ned is pictured as being happy; however, as the story progresses Ned realizes that the world he envisioned at first was not all it appeared to be. He refers to his journey across the different pools as the traveling across the “Lucinda River.” [pg. 727]
Early on as Ned journeys through the first couple of pools, he crosses them with ease, but as reality begins to set in on what is actually going on, the trips in those pools become more difficult to cross. Ned is happy, confident while grabbing drinks as he goes from pool to pool. He begins with the Westerhazy’s pool then heads off to the Grahams’ pool. After a couple pools he
Once he crosses a highway after his physical ability to pull himself out of the pools has already begun to decline. The last few houses Ned’s issue with his short term memory becomes apparent as he forgets things such as when the Hallorans apologize to him for his “misfortunes” [pg 733: line 17] and when he cannot remember when his friend Eric had an operation three years ago [pg 734: line 16]. As Ned goes on to the next few houses he is treated rudely by a bartender and hears Grace make a remark about a person who lost all their money and going around asking for a loan; then he arrives at his old mistress house, Shirley, who is unhappy to see him, and makes remarks about loaning money as Grace did before. After swimming in Shirley’s pool he has a great difficulty getting out and has to use a ladder to pull himself