John Cheever's Short Story 'The Swimmer'

7 April 2014

In John Cheever’s short story “The Swimmer,” a swimming pool represents much more than a fun summer afternoon. When Cheever’s main character, Ned Merrill, decides to take the long way home by swimming through every pool on his way home, he journeys through much more than swimming pools. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that a large amount of time has lapsed since the swimmer began his journey back home, and that his swims are interconnected with his life as an alcoholic. This is a story about a man’s journey through life and not just through one afternoon. The use of swimming pools in Cheever’s story clearly represents the different phases of Merrill’s life as an alcoholic, and each swim that he takes affects his outcome in life and the person he becomes by the end of the story.
Right off the bat Cheever shows how the Merrill and the people he surrounds himself with drink a lot. “It was one of those midsummer Sundays when everyone sits around saying: “I drank too much last night’” (Cheever 157). This establishes the tone for this story by showing the reader what Merrill has surrounded himself with in life. His life revolves around alcohol, and as the story begins to unfold, it is more obvious how Merrill is addicted to alcohol and cannot go anywhere without having a drink. Almost every pool that Merrill swims in he asks the owner of that pool for a drink. By the end of the story though, Merrill’s addiction to alcohol has caused more damage to the people around him than he every intended. Alcohol is Merrill’s comfort throughout the story when he feels abandoned by everyone in his life. It is clear that when Merrill begins his journey to swim home he is beginning his journey through life as an