Swimming in a Pool of Delusions

           
Immediately after reading “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, I was extremely confused—Neddy didn’t seem like a reliable narrator—I didn’t know how much of the story I could trust. Was Neddy actually an old man lying on his hospital bed, reliving parts of his life—before coming in terms with reality? Or was Neddy a middle-aged man who had lost his senses after becoming “bankrupt over night”?

Then I realized that the allure of this story is that we aren’t sure and could never be sure—Cheever leaves plenty of room for imagination. Although I’m kind of disappointed that Cheever didn’t illuminate us (maybe he didn’t even think out the story himself—maybe he was taking an easy way out by making the reader imagine!), I realize it adds to the reader’s empathy and pity for Neddy. We realize that Neddy must have had something extremely painful happen to him, and by leaving that to the imagination of the reader, the reader can think of something painful that perhaps they themselves have experienced. Moreover, the mysteriousness adds to the characterization of Neddy as someone who has completely deluded himself.

Also, the two most important motifs in this story is swimming and drinking, and I’d like to offer my interpretation. Swimming represents the journey away from self-delusion and towards truth and reality. Irony lies in the fact that Neddy begins the journey in hopes of building up his illusion even more—he hopes to fulfill his “idea of himself as a legendary figure” by swimming across the county—but instead, is met with the stark reality that he has lost his family and house. The motif of drinking also contributes to the symbol that swimming brings Neddy closer to reality because as Neddy swims farther and farther, and he grows to doubt himself more and more (shown by Cheever’s use of rhetorical questions, Neddy questions his own faltering memory), he becomes more and more desperate for a drink. However, as he swims farther and farther, he finds it more and more difficult to get a drink. This really shows that as he swims away from the Westerhazy’s and towards his own home, his illusions are stripped away from him, leaving him naked and vulnerable to the cruel truth.

Lastly, I’d like to mention that my conjecture is that Neddy escapes from an insane asylum or a psychiatric hospital (or, more likely, becomes very very drunk one day) and visits his old neighborhood—reliving his memories of each location, and as he goes, his inebriation wears off gradually and as he sobers up, he realizes the reality that his old life has been cut short by fate, and he’s stuck with the life he’s currently living.