Summary: The Swim Of Deception

The Swim of Deception One day in midsummer, a group of friends, Neddy and Lucinda Merrill and Helen and Donald Westerhazy, are hung over and are complaining about how they drunk too much the previous night. Ned decides that he wants to go swim in the pools that are spread throughout his county and imagines himself to be an explorer. In the beginning of the story Ned is pictured as being happy; however, as the story progresses Ned realizes that the world he envisioned at first was not all it appeared to be. He refers to his journey across the different pools as the traveling across the “Lucinda River.” [pg. 727]
Early on as Ned journeys through the first couple of pools, he crosses them with ease, but as reality begins to set in on what is actually going on, the trips in those pools become more difficult to cross. Ned is happy, confident while grabbing drinks as he goes from pool to pool. He begins with the Westerhazy’s pool then heads off to the Grahams’ pool. After a couple pools he
arrives to the Bunker’s pool where a party is going on. He is greeted by Enid Bunker as if he was not expected to show up to the party, but pleased that Nerd could make it. Ned has another drink and moves no to the next house.
Over the next couple of houses strange things occur one house and the realization now begins to slowly sit in, like when he sit through a storm in Levy’s gazebo.
Once he crosses a highway after his physical ability to pull himself out of the pools has already begun to decline. The last few houses Ned’s issue with his short term memory becomes apparent as he forgets things such as when the Hallorans apologize to him for his “misfortunes” [pg 733: line 17] and when he cannot remember when his friend Eric had an operation three years ago [pg 734: line 16]. As Ned goes on to the next few houses he is treated rudely by a bartender and hears Grace make a remark about a person who lost all their money and going around asking for a loan; then he arrives at his old mistress house, Shirley, who is unhappy to see him, and makes remarks about loaning money as Grace did before. After swimming in Shirley’s pool he has a great difficulty getting out and has to use a ladder to pull himself
up.
Finally he as he goes across a few more pools reality has set and Ned begins to cry, supposedly the first time since his childhood. He decides that he needs dry clothes and heads home; when he gets arrives home he notices that the lights are off. He looks inside and realizes that no one is there, his family is gone, and his house is completely empty.
When Ned experiences various events throughout the story the truth of his life begins to reveal. As Ned crosses more pools, time is going by faster than Ned realizes which is why his physical ability as well as his appearance begins to deteriorate. At the beginning of the story the setting is set in midsummer but at one pint in time the narrator mentions leaves and hedges turning yellow and red as well as the air getting colder. Also Ned questions his memory because his friends steadily bring up concern for him, but Ned ends up denying the reality that is his life.
The alcohol that Ned consumes assists in Ned being distorted and not realizing how unhappy he is. The more the story progresses the less alcohol Ned consumes which leads to him being less drunk and he physically becomes weaker. As he “explores” more his desire for the alcohol increases which could have lead to his emotional breakdown towards the end of the story. As he begins to sober up he has trouble remembering events that occurred in his life, such as how his family left, all the money he lost, and his friend Eric having surgery. Early on in the story, Ned is pictured as being warm in the sunshine as he goes for his first trip in the Lucinda River, with no complaints about the water and air. He is also able to get in and out of the pools with ease and travel to the next pool with no problem whatsoever. Once the storm passes the air appears to get cooler and that is when he notices the leaves and hedges turning colors. From then on Ned gets colder and colder as he gets out of the pools and begins to notice that it is autumn. At the end of his journey the water in the last pool he swims in is described at freezing. In the beginning, Ned’s life is surrounded by the sunshine in summer, but at the end of the story Ned’s life has been engulfed by the coldness of the fall.
Throughout the story it appeared that Ned was a happy man who had no worries in the world. However as the story went on Ned realizes that his life is not as he remembers. I was expecting that Ned would get himself together, but he could not run away from reality. As for Ned, I believe that he has a problem that he fails to control, which is why his family deserted him and he is left with nothing. He attempts to run away from the truth and sees drinking as his way to cope with things, but in actuality it only makes things worst for him once he “wakes” up from his ideal reality.