Use of Symbolism, Tone, and Irony in The Swimmer, by John Cheever Essay

Finding home boarded up a sensation of coldness and unwelcoming takes over. Sudden misfortunes arise from what was once a perfect life, and the world appears upside-down. Attempts to commemorate what went wrong fail. Memories are unclear and time seems blurry. At one time, John Cheever found himself in this position, using alcohol to ignore his problems. John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1912. In 1941, he moved to suburban Westchester and eventually became addicted to alcohol, which is a recurrent motif in many of his short stories. He died in 1982 from cancer. In his short story, The swimmer, an affluent man named Neddy Merrill decides to swim through all of the pools in his county to reach his own house. The neighbors welcome him at first, until a encounter passes and everyone begins to regard him negatively. When he finally reaches home from his journey, he finds his house empty and boarded up. Just like the author, Ned suffered after he put aside his i ssues. John Cheever develops his discipline that changes will inevitably come as time passes by in his short story The Swimmer through his use of symbolism, tone, and irony.At first glance,The Swimmer is literally a story about a man who swims through pools only to come home to an empty house- the symbolism makes it much more than that. one(a) of the main symbols in The Swimmer is the swimming pools, which represent time periods. Halfway through the story, Ned reaches the Welchers and realises that they had definitely gone away. Their pool furniture was folded, stacked, and covered with a tarp (Cheever). Unknown to Neddy, large amount of time has passed between the time he started his voyage and where he is now. Ned does not remember the Welchers s... ...ss. Works CitedBlythe, Hal, and Charlie Sweet. Man-Made vs. Natural Cycles What unfeignedly Happens in The Swimmer.. Studies in scam Fiction 27.3 (Summer 1990) 415-418. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol . 120. Detroit Gale, 2009. books Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.Cheever, John. The Swimmer. N.p. Library of America, 2009. Print.Morace, Robert A. The Swimmer Overview. Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit St. James Press, 1994.Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.The Swimmer. Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 57. Detroit Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.Watts, Harold H. John Cheever Overview. Reference Guide to American Literature. Ed. Jim Kamp. 3rd ed. Detroit St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.