In his short story, The Swimmer, Cheever uses the character of Neddy to convey the theme of passage of time. Neddy’s Journey home is the unexpected passage of time. Throughout the story, he likes to feel young and he acts the part too. Neddy slowly starts to realize that things aren’t always what he has remembered. He soon finds himself in a world that does not match up with what he last thought. The seasons are different, the people act different, the places are different, and he even feels different. Eventually, Neddy becomes aware that more time has passed than he remembers. Neddy is a living example for the idea that no matter what you do, the passage of time is inevitable.  

Neddy’s denial of time passage begins with his desire to feel and act young. At the start of the story, he is relaxing on a summer Sunday enjoying drinks with neighborhood friends at the pool. It is made very clear that Neddy can easily pass off for being youthful. “He was a slender man—he seemed to have the especial slenderness of youth—and while he was far from young he had slid down his banister that morning and given the bronze backside of Aphrodite on the hall table a smack, as he jogged toward the smell of coffee in his dining room” (Cheever 1). Neddy’s “slenderness of youth” and “sliding down his banister” are perfect examples for his young and energized characteristics. As the day goes on, he realizes that he can hop from pool to pool until he gets home. Neddy decides to begin his journey home by swimming through all the pools and greeting neighbors. “He took off a sweater that was hung over his shoulders and dove in. He had an inexplicable contempt for men who did not hurl themselves into pools. He swam a choppy crawl, breathing either with every stroke or every fourth stroke and counting somewhere well in the back of his mind the one-two one-two of a flutter kick” (Cheever 2). Not only does he look young but he has the fitness of youth. The diving in and breath techniques show Neddy’s very well maintained athletic ability and knowledge of swimming as he begins his journey home. 

Neddy begins to realize his memory of things doesn’t match up with quite everything. Early on in his journey, he is greeted by good friends and drinks at each house. He starts off swimming from pool to pool effortlessly. Eventually, things didn’t make much sense to Neddy. “The force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves and scattered them over the grass and the water. Since it was midsummer the tree must be blighted, and yet he felt a peculiar sadness at this sign of autumn” (Cheever 5). Neddy is confused and questions the red and yellow leaves on the tree. He is aware it is only midsummer yet he feels deep inside the sadness of welcoming autumn. He is starting to notice the surreal changes around him. “They were loose and he wondered if, during the space of an afternoon, he could have lost some weight. He was cold and he was tired and the naked Hallorans and their dark water had depressed him” (Cheever 7). Neddy notices his loose swim trunks and lack of energy. At this point, Neddy is confused as he questions his memory. Many of the people and places he knew don’t match what he can remember. Reassured that only a couple of hours have passed since he began his journey, Neddy continues home.

Neddy reaches the point in his journey where nothing is the same. Every person he greets, every place he sees, every feeling he once had, and every memory was wrong and different. Neddy asks his old mistress ““You could give me a drink.” “I could but I won’t. I’m not alone”” (Cheever 11). Her response and many other friends’ rude denials of serving a drink are quite the opposite of the kind generosity of his friends at the beginning of his journey. “He dove in and swam the pool, but when he tried to haul himself up onto the curb he found that the strength in his arms and shoulders had gone, and he paddled to the ladder and climbed out” (Cheever 11). Neddy’s love and ability for being youthful and active was long gone at this point in his journey. Many other things are very out of place and make no sense to Neddy. Everything he once knew has become a distant memory all in his head.

The reality of Neddy’s journey was not the journey of an afternoon swim home, but the journey of many years. Neddy loved his life and being youthful so much he denied any of it could change. He was in such denial of time passage that he continued to live the same way for a very long time. He began to be oblivious of his denial of change when he himself couldn’t remember what was going on in his life. The passage of time was something Neddy blocked out of his head. Before he could realize it, the people around him were reminding him of what changes were happening in his life. People reminded him of things such as his daughter moving out or the fact that he had sold his house. It is almost as if Neddy never wanted to see the day where he had grown too old to enjoy a midsummer day and swim home through the neighborhood. 

The passage of time crept up on Neddy very unexpectedly. In his own mind, many years passed by in just one afternoon. His strong denial made him oblivious of the time passing by him. Along his journey, he realizes that time is passing by much faster than he can grasp. Neddy’s journey represents the theme that the passage of time is inevitable.