Social Status In The Swimmer

The social status of Neddy in “The Swimmer” changes drastically as we move on in the story. The story at first starts reasonably enough, with Neddy the protagonist lounging about the swimming pool at the home of his friends the Westerhazys, which was fed by an artesian well when a thought occurs to him: there were many swimming pools between his current location and his home, so he could literally swim through them towards home. That's when he starts his journey. His first stop is at the Grahams. Msr.Grahams is delighted when he swims into her pool and notes that she's been trying to get him on the phone all morning. She then eagerly offers him a drink, though he appears to be in a hurry. Hammer, the owner of the second pool, sees him in the water but "wasn't quite sure who it was." The Lears saw him in their pool as
Let's take drinking, one of the symbols, as an example. At the beginning of the story, it talks about how ‘“ it one of those midsummer Sundays when everyone sits around saying,” I drank too much last night”’ He then visits the Graham’s where he is gladly offered a drink and is wanted to remain as a guest. There isn't much say about the next three; the first one, not even sure of who he is and the other two not even at home. At the Bunker’s he's given a warm welcome and greeted by many people, and is even served gin and tonic by a “smiling bartender”. When he later visits the Sachses he isn't offered anything though he really needed something to drink. At the Biswangers, Mrs. Biswangers calls him a “gatecrasher” although in the past the Biswangers used to send them invitations and is later served by a rude bartender. He later meets the lady he had and affair with where she rudely refuses to give him anything. He returns home, a tired and old man only to find it empty and his family