

The choices you make in life can have a very large impact on those around you.  In John Cheever’s “The Swimmer,” we can see this idea demonstrated through the character of Neddy Merrill.  In this short story the reader joins the narrator in following Neddy Merrill through his journey along the Lucinda River.  The Lucinda River, named after Neddy’s Wife, is a “river” of pools within the suburban neighborhood Neddy lives in. The reader will follow Neddy through this journey where we will learn more about Neddy and his choices and behaviors throughout his life. Many of Neddy’s behaviors are very destructive and as the story ends Neddy is left with no money and no family or friends.  The combination of Neddy’s adolescent, alcoholic, and egotistical behaviors developed during his journey home will eventually lead to the loss of his family, friends, and funds. 

 From the beginning of the short story we quickly learn about the adolescent behaviors of Neddy.   “He was far from young, he had slid down his banister that morning” (Cheever 726).   Sliding down the banister is a very childish thing to do.  It is in a simple act like that where we can see signs of his immaturity.  Another sign of Neddy’s immaturity is in the simple idea of swimming home.  The idea to swim home is highly fantasized and the fact that a man who is far from young designed this idea shows that he definitely still lives in a juvenile world.  Neddy’s adolescent lifestyle quickly catches up with him as he progresses through his journey.  Over halfway through his journey he struggles while swimming across the Sachses’ pool, “he dove into the Sachses’ cold water and, gasping, close to drowning, made his way from one end of the pool to the other” (Cheever 734).   As seen in the quote Neddy is really struggling to swim across this pool- showing more of his true age.  Neddy has gone from pulling himself out of the pool to nearly drowning trying to get across the pool.  Soon after his near drowning Neddy gets to Shirley Adams’ pool and there he can’t even manage to get close to pull himself out of the water, forcing him to use the ladder.  I think this really shows that Neddy’s age has finally caught up with him.  Neddy’s adolescence especially shows in the fact that he refused to accept that he was growing up, it took him nearly drowning to accept his age.  For his wife having a husband who still thinks he is living in the glory days of his teenage years probably got very old, very fast.  This easily was one of the reasons for her leaving him at the end of the story. 

Drinking is a very big part of this short story, for starters the story starts off where everyone is hungover from the previous night’s event.  In the beginning it seems as if Neddy is not much of a drinker, however it does not take long to realize that he definitely has a sweet spot for alcohol.  “He got himself a glass and poured a drink.  It was his fourth or fifth drink” (Cheever 729).  Four or Five drinks is a lot, especially when you consider that his idea of drink is whiskey, which is fairly high in alcohol concentration.  As his journey goes on Neddy begins to see signs of previously mentioned aging and decides that the way to solve this is with alcohol.  “He needed a drink.  Whiskey would warm him, pick him up, carry him through the last of his journey” (Cheever 733-734).  First of all, no one ever needs a drink, they just really want one.  The fact that Neddy will take that as needing a drink definitely shows signs of alcoholism.  For Neddy alcohol turns into his creative way of motivating himself to finish his journey, which again shows signs of alcohol.  We can tell that this leads to problems within his family financial life.  We later learn that he asked his mistress for money since it appears he had gone bankrupt.  Alcohol is an expensive addiction and his bankruptcy could have easily been because of alcohol addiction. 

The last of Neddy’s destructive behaviors was his ego.  “He… had a vague and modest idea of himself as a legendary figure” (Cheever 727).  To think of yourself as a legendary figure is not modest in the slightest, so the wording used here is almost ironic.  His ego also plays strongly into his adolescence.  Many of his actions show both his immaturity and how egotistic he is.  For example, when presented with the option to turn around and go back home he decided not to.  This whole idea of swimming home was very childish to begin with but because he could not hurt his ego, he insisted that he finish his journey.  This point in the story is a turning point in his swim home.  Neddy’s refusing to quit and turn around is very symbolic of him leaving everything he loved behind and instead protecting his ego.  To Neddy it was much more important for him that he finish this journey as opposed to returning home to his loved ones. 

Because of Neddy’s adolescence, alcoholism, and egotistical behaviors Neddy loses everything he once cherished, his family, friends, and money.   Neddy started this journey for very selfish and juvenile reasons and in the end it was those same behaviors that led to him to finish this journey, which inevitably left him lonely and broke.  Along the way as he felt more and more lonely he found solace in alcohol.  This behavior is most likely what left him broke.  

For any wife who lives with a selfish, childish, and alcoholic wife the best decision to make for yourself and your kids is to leave him.  Therefore, Lucinda and her children sell the house and move away from Neddy.  Neddy dearly loved his wife but from the story it seems as if he loved himself and alcohol even more, which is very unfortunate for his wife and children. The destructive behaviors which Neddy adapted during his journey definitely had lasting effects as at the end of the story we learn that Neddy is broke, to the point of asking his mistress for money.  We also learn that his house had been sold and his wife and children had left him.  So in the end it is appropiate that Neddy, a selfish and egotistical man, is now left alone due to his poor decisions.  
