John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” centers around Ned Merrill’s goal to “swim across the county” (Cheever, p. 734). However, as the story progresses, readers begin to see that the underlying symbolism to his goal may point toward something much grimmer. “The Swimmer” tells the story in a very obscure passage of time, which coincides both with how long Ned has been swimming, and who’s pool he is swimming in.

Ned begins during the summer, by swimming through a series of pools leading up to his first time lapse at the Levy’s pool. Upon reaching this pool, he sees a storm coming and goes into the family’s gazebo; and after exiting it, he realizes that “The force of the wind had stripped a maple of its red and yellow leaves and scattered them over the grass and the water” (Cheever, p. 730). This means that, supposedly, in the time he was waiting for the storm to pass, the entire season of summer passed with it. However, this strange passage of time shows how he s actively repressing memories.

In Cheever’s story, the author intentionally uses this storm as a symbol pointing to the night that Ned lost every cent he owned. This is seen upon his arrival to the party at the Biswanger’s home. Upon arriving “he hear[s] Grace [Biswanger] at his back say[ing]: ‘They went for broke overnight—nothing but income—and he showed up drunk one Sunday and asked us to loan him five thousand dollars’” (Cheever, p. 735). This, mixed with Ned’s Comment when he arrives at the party of “it seem[s] to be getting dark and these were the longest days of the year,” implies that it is now summer, and in the time between last fall and the current moment, Ned begged the Biswanger family for a loan of five-thousand dollars (Cheever, p. 735). Along with this, readers also see a noticeable change in Ned’s Social Standing.

At the start of the book Ned “ha[s] a vague and modest idea of himself as a legendary figure” (Cheever, p.727). This does, however, change by the time he reaches Biswanger’s party. Upon his arrival, he is immediately greeted by Grace Biswanger, who in in turn calls him a “Gatecrasher” (Cheever, p. 735). Along with this, the bartender serve[s] [Ned], but he serve[s] him rudely” (Cheever, p. 735). This contradicts Ned’s original social standing as an upper middle class citizen, because typically speaking, if a bartender knows that he can get a good tip from a customer, he will treat him with respect and serve him benevolently. On the contrary, if a bartender knows he is serving someone who will not leave a tip and also not pay for his drink, he will treat him rudely and act harsh towards him. This points to the fact that sometime between the storm and Grace’s party, Ned not only lost all of his money, but also changed his social standing to that of a bum.

We also see signs of this shift as he goes to Shirley Adam’s home. Shirley was Ned’s mistress in the past, with whom he broke off his affair “last week, last month, last year. He couldn’t remember" (Cheever, p.736). Upon entering her yard, Ned notes to himself that Shirley “Looked confused to see him” and he wonders “if she was still wounded” (Cheever, p. 736). This implies that she most likely still had feelings for him at the time of the break up, and if it was recent, then she would most likely want him back. However, whenever Shirley sees him she immediately questions his motives for being the and states that she “won’t give [him] another cent” (Cheever, p. 736). This attitude towards Ned that she has, mixed with the fact that later on Ned notices a man coming out of her home implies that she most likely no longer has any feelings for Ned meaning that a long enough amount of time has passed for her to get over him. Along with this she doesn’t say “I won’t give you money,” she says she “won’t give [him] another cent,” implying that she has already catered to his begging in the past (Cheever, p.736). After his time spent he realizes that it is once again fall when he notices the constellations have changed, and due to this, readers see Ned’s realization of what happens.

Throughout the entire story, Ned is driven by some unknown force which won’t allow him to go home or go back to his wife, and he doesn’t know why, all he knows is that he must continue to swim. He masks this by bumming drinks off of his neighbors however after Shirley’s house he breaks down and cries. He hasn’t gotten a drink from his neighbors in a long while and he is dumbfounded by the sudden change in people’s character towards him. He doesn’t understand why people are refusing him charity out of nowhere, and because of this he breaks down prior to his arrival at the Gilmartin’s home. He then proceeds to swim through the last two pools needed to reach his own home, and upon arriving realizes why everybody is suddenly against him.

Ned Merrill is most likely victim to a condition known as memory repression, in which a person’s subconscious will forget negative memories in order to save the person’s sanity. This explains why Ned is so confused at the random passage of time, he just doesn’t remember the events during that passage. This also explains his confusion on his social status, as well as not being able to remember specific events, such as exactly when he broke off with Shirley, why he cannot return home, his good friend getting surgery, why his favorite neighbors moved, and why he cannot return to his wife at the Westerhazy’s party.

 However, when he finally reaches his home, he realizes what has happened; he goes to the garage and sees that “the doors were locked and rust came off the handles onto his hands” (Cheever, p.737). Along with this he notes that parts of his house were destroyed during the storm, and “looking in at the windows, saw that the place was empty” (Cheever, p. 737). Through this, readers can infer through the actions of his neighbors and the dilapidated state of his home, that overnight he lost his home, his wife, and all of his money, then began going door to door for handouts, while he slowly remembers what happened as his neighbors become less generous.
