Neddy Merrill In The Swimmer

In reading the story “The Swimmer”, the main character Neddy Merrill, takes his journey home through swimming pools of his neighborhood, which then progresses into a journey through the years of his life. This is showing that the passage of time is inevitable, and no matter how much one might ignore it, it still passes. It is shown in this story that Neddy has been in denial of reality the entire time as well. At the beginning of this story it states that Neddy is “far from young,” but he does his best to act young by diving head first into a pool. The afternoon at the Westerhazys’ pool seems to be very long and timeless, which seems no different than many previous afternoons that may have been spent the same way. He begins his begins his journey
through a chain of pools he names the “Lucinda River”. His choice of using this name later becomes sad and ironic when he winds up at his dark, deserted home. Neddy has taken his wife Lucinda, just as he took his comfortable life, for granted. I do not know a lot about their marriage, but I know of the affair Neddy had with Shirley. It disgusts me that he had an affair, and that he treated it so lightly, stating that there was no meaning in it. Him treating the cheating on his wife so casually implies that Neddy assumed that his wife would always be there no matter what still supporting him.
As his journey progresses, time is illustrated by passing more quickly than what he realizes. Leaves and hedges are changing colors, the constellations in the sky are moving, and the air is also getting colder. His friends are not at home when he expects them to be, and he faces ridicule from the people he had once mocked himself. An example of this could be when his mistress wants nothing to do with him anymore and asks him, “Will you ever grow up?” He also learns that a friend he has known for awhile has also been very ill. All of these changes have happened without his knowledge, and that could possibly be from his denial of certain things, or that he just has not been around as much as he used to be. He then begins to question his memory, but wonders whether he has simply denied the actual reality that surrounds him. Looking towards the end of this story, when the Lucinda River drops him off, Neddy faces a lonely, unfamiliar place because of the consequences of his previous actions. He faced his empty house with sadness and finally realized that time has passed. All this time he has tried to ignore it, but its passing has proven to be
unavoidable.