The Swimmer (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Cheever
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The early 1960's
- Setting: Bullet Park, a fictional suburb of New York
- Principal Characters: Ned Merrill
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Memory, Psychology or psychologists, Yards or backyards, Depression, mental, Mind and body
- Locales: New York
The Story
In “The Swimmer,” John Cheever experiments with narrative structure and chronology. Apparently realistic on the surface, the story is eventually revealed as reflecting the disordered mind of the protagonist. When the story opens, Ned Merrill is youthful, strong, and athletic; by the end, he is a weak and broken man, unable to understand the wreckage of his life. Proud of his wife and his four beautiful daughters, Merrill at first seems the picture of health and contentment. This initial image quickly disintegrates as Merrill weakens and is confronted with his...
[The entire page is 1315 words long]
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