The Swimmer

The Swimmer
The short story “The Swimmer” is about an unnamed woman, whose personal life we are not really told anything about. She sits at her desk in a tiny office in her house from where she can see the river that runs close to the house. It is a hot summer day and after a while the woman cannot stand the heat anymore. She decides to drop the work that she is in the middle of and go swimming in the river instead. Standing in front of the river she shortly let her fear for the river take over but she then remembers how she once before has turned around instead of going swimming. She decides to stop worrying anymore and walks out in the river. It is the first time the protagonist swims in the river and she fully enjoys it. After swimming a while she sees a swan in front of her. She gets afraid of the swan but is at the same time also overwhelmed by its beauty. She sneaks up from the water and goes back to her house. As the day goes on she cannot stop thinking about the swan and its beauty. She decides to go back into the river in the evening. She finds the swan at the same place as before. She is not afraid of the swan anymore but she still acts very careful around it because she does not want to disturb or annoy it. She begins to swim regular in the river both so she can enjoy the water but also to see the beauty of the swan. One day she notices that the swan looks strained and when she swims closer to it it does not react. She discovers that it is because the swan is trapped. She helps it free and the swan swims away.

The protagonist of “The Swimmer”’s name is not mentioned. Further it is not told whether she has a family or lives by herself. My guess is that she lives by herself, which I judge from the fact that she seems to be during things like swimming in the river without having to tell anybody about it or plan it with anyone. She seems like a woman who works a lot because her office is the only setting in the text apart from the river-area and further