Preview

Who Is The Antagonist In The Swimmer

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
538 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Who Is The Antagonist In The Swimmer
Throughout the short story “The Swimmer”, the author makes it sound as if the main character Neddy Merrill is swimming home through pools. But, these pools are metaphors for different chapters of his life. In the beginning Neddy is portrayed as youthful and energetic, he is able to dive into the pool and he can lift himself out of the pool effortlessly. As the story goes on as Neddy goes through more pools we see that he’s getting older, he uses the ladder to get out of the pool and he is cold and wants to stop swimming and put on warm clothes. Neddy’s journey swimming through his friends back yards is not a dream nore is he literally swimming through the pools. His experiences swimming through his friends pools are the result of him
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Drowner
    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Drowner

    The title of the novel can be interpreted both on a literal and metaphorical level, which clearly establishes water as a motif and metaphor throughout the novel. ‘Drowning’ refers to the act of controlling the flow of water, and is done by a ‘Drowner’ who is a rural water engineer who is responsible for keeping the fields fertile. In the first section of the novel, ‘The Art of Floating Land’, readers are introduced to the character of ‘Alphabetical’ Dance and his occupation as a drowner, sustaining life through the act of drowning, and hence water is established as a life-giving force. On a more metaphorical level, the word “drowning” has connotations of death. Thus, the title juxtaposes the idea of water as a life-giving force, and introduces it as a life-taking force, constructing the duality of water which is a central theme throughout the novel.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Tired Swimmer Case
    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Tired Swimmer Case

    2. From the internet, find a picture that shows the mammalian spinal cord in cross section. Include the url where you found it and a statement of why you feel this is a good example.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Last Night At The Pool Dialectical Journal
    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Last Night At The Pool Dialectical Journal

    The coach marched out of the pool complex, abandoning him to contemplate those words that echoed off the walls of the deserted building. His hands trembled and his eyes glistened as he hauled his gaunt body from the pool. His mind continually regurgitated that one phrase. Not good enough. He sluggishly trudged to the changing rooms, reaching the sanctuary of the hot showers.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Edna Pontelli's The Awakening
    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Edna Pontelli's The Awakening

    After party, Adna first learned how to swim. She was elated because she did not know how to swim even though she had learned so many times. When Adna was no longer afraid, “she wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before”. (27) Adna had a desire to swim to the place that no woman had been,…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'
    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men'

    The pool by the river contributes to the author’s purpose by showing the audience the possibility of how life for George and Lennie could be if society’s norms didn’t affect them.…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Quotes From A Hard Home Analysis
    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Quotes From A Hard Home Analysis

    1. "When I recovered, Dad picked me up and heaved me back into the middle of the Hot Pot. 'Sink or swim!' he called out. For the second time, I sank. The water once more filled my nost and lungs. I kicked and flailed and thrashed my way to the surface, gasping for air, and reached out to Dad. But he pulled back, and I didn't feel his hands around me until I'd sunk one more time (Walls,6). Throughout the book, an irregular act of the author was clear mainly due to the harsh parenting style of the father. Although he wants to help her, he does not act with open arms. In other words, he is strict and harsh. For example, the passage states how the father would not help the daughter and forced her to learn how to swim on her own while making her face the situation of drowning. In addition, this passage was attention worthy since it was descriptive. The author clearly described specific details while drowning.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary: The Swim Of Deception
    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More To The Lake By E. B White Analysis
    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Once More To The Lake By E. B White Analysis

    The ocean acts as a symbol of a child’s best friend, encouraging the child to the fearless and chase adventure. However, the father views the ocean differently, as he sees the ocean being dangerous. As stated in the text “I have since become a salt-water man, but sometimes in summer there are days when the restlessness of the tides and the fearful cold of the sea water and the incessant wind which blows across the afternoon and into the evening make me wish for placidity of a lake in the woods” (pg 1). This quote shows that the father is fearful of the sea, and seeks the comfort of the lake because how the waves of the ocean represent no control. Summer symbolizes the father’s favorite time of the year, Summertime, oh summertime, pattern of the indelible, the fade proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweet fern and the juniper forever and ever, summer without end; this was the background, and the life along the shore was the design, the cottages with their innocent and tranquil design...”(pg3). This shows the father using imagery to describe his childhood trips to the lake to bond with his father period. The positive descriptions of beauty of their annual trips show s the happy memories he associates with the season. He becomes lost in these memoires and is convinced that times does not exist. “That the…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Classics Essay
    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Classics Essay

    leaving skin there. He swims along the coast outside the breakers until he sees a river. He…

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Swimmer Metaphor
    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Swimmer Metaphor

    In the short story “The Swimmer”, John Cheever wrote the story as a metaphor for life. Cheever basically stating that your time here on earth is short; don’t waste your time. Neddy spends his time chasing a social life, alcohol, and a mistress. As Neddy takes his journey across the county why does it take so long for him to realize that his life isn’t what he thought it was? Did he waste his time while on his journey?…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Allegory
    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Allegory

    He decides he wants to float down the river despite his near-drowning experience when he was child that scarred him and his lack of being able to swim.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Neddy Merrill In The Swimmer
    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    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…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Swimmer Neddy's Drinking Problem
    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Swimmer Neddy's Drinking Problem

    In the novel “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, the main character Neddy had picked up a drinking problem that caused him to lose track of his life and fall into financial debt. Throughout the novel, Neddy visited many friends and families for conversation while he knew it would follow with alcohol. This drinking caused things to take a turn for the worse in Neddy’s life.…

    • 213 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Compare and Contrast
    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Compare and Contrast

    Neddy’s journey home through the pools of his neighborhood turns into a journey through many years of his life, showing that the passage of time is inevitable, no matter how much one might ignore it. Neddy has mastered the art of denial. At the beginning of the story, the narrator tells us that Neddy is “far from young,” but he does his best to act young by sliding down a banister and diving headlong into a pool. The long afternoon at the Westerhazys’ pool seems timeless, no different, we can assume, from many other afternoons spent exactly the same way. Neddy’s idea to swim home seems like just one more idea in a series of ideas that have popped up on many similar occasions.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Swimming Pools By Thomas Lux
    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Swimming Pools By Thomas Lux

    Usually to a reader a swimming pool has a good connotation, but for this poem Lux uses it negatively and gives is a new connotation to help him get the mood of the poem across. He gives a swimming pool a negative connotation by using words and phrases like, sneers, terror, fatal, kill, cruel, rage, and fear. These words help describe how some of the characters Lux uses are feeling at the swimming pool which gives the pool its negative connotation. Lux also gives the word "Winter" a positive connotation to the overweight boy when he says, "he takes the sneers, prefers the winter so he can wear his heavy pants and sweater" (Lux). Winter has a positive connotation now because the boy prefers it to the summer months because he can stay inside in his warm clothes and not be ridiculed for his weight. He also uses the denotations of words like fat and loneliness to help describe characters. Overall, Lux's diction helps him describe and give new meanings to the words and phrases he uses in his…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics