Time moves, whether it’s slowly or fast. There are people who embrace time and there are others who try running from it. Those people who do attempt to escape it try many different ways to accomplish, either by delusions or Botox. These attempts, however, will forever end in defeat. In the story titled ‘The Swimmer’ by John Cheever, the audience witnesses the main character Neddy Merril attempting and failing to avoid the impending passage of time.
In the second paragraph, Neddy is described as someone who is far from young but still youthful and agile. And in that morning of the second paragraph, Neddy slid down his banister of the pool on a hot summer day. This is the start of Neddy’s journey throughout the story. Neddy is not a young man, but his morning routine speaks to his self- image as a man who feels younger than he is. He is a man who lives life feeling young and untroubled, as seen by him lounging by the pool while drinking gin.
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Right when Neddy describes the string of pools as ‘unexplored, uncharted territory’ for him to discover is when we really see him avoiding the truth of him becoming an aging man. Neddy’s desire for feeling like a young man finds itself through the expression of being an explorer, which this childish delusion indicates that the image of a ‘strong, masculine man’ may also be a delusion to Neddy. Nevertheless, he starts off his journey with a naive mindset and believes people will help him accomplish this childish goal.
We see the first signs of time passing right after the storm ended, Neddy was in Levy’s yard when he notices the color of the leaves changing to red and yellow, and that he was hit with a sudden chill. This transition of seasons sets a transition in the mood, setting it to a more eerie and unsettling path. Neddy starts to feel weak, which can mean that aging is finally starting to hit Neddy himself.
It is also at this point in the story that we see the examples of perhaps a man developing a memory disorder, which corresponds with aging. Neddy notices the Japanese lanterns on the Levy’s yard and yet he does not remember Levy ever going to Japan. In the Halloran’s yard, Mrs. Halloran sends his condolences to Neddy for the loss of his house, but Neddy himself does not recall such thing, instead denying it.
Even the Halloran’s ‘natural’ pool, Neddy still felt exhausted and weak and needed something to recover that exhaustion quick. As Neddy confusedly smells, he scent of woodsmoke, it implies that Neddy’s age is mirroring the seasons, winter being the old while the summer is youth. The way Neddy refers to the start of the story as if it were long ago emphasizes how much time seems to have passed for Neddy.
Neddy is reminded of the fragility of humans when he visits his friend Eric, who had undergone surgery that Neddy didn’t even know he needed (another indicator of memory loss). Neddy still sees himself as a young man, but even he can’t deny the truth. And yet, Neddy turns away from Eric after seeing his scar, implying that maybe if he didn’t look at Eric, Neddy can still somehow convince himself he is a young man. Neddy has aged physically throughout the story, but he essentially has never change mentally. He still believes he can finish the childish goal he set himself at the beginning of the story, and he believes with naivety that every one of his neighbors will help him, which as shown by the Biswanger’s attitude towards Neddy, that is clearly not the case.
Neddy goes on to one of his houses, which belongs to his old mistress, Shirley Adams in hopes of relieving his exhaustion through pleasure, although that in itself is a temporary thing. After Neddy described his quest of swimming across town through swimming pools, Shirley ridicules him and tells him to ‘grow up’ of that foolish mind. Seeing the man from the bathhouse of Shirley’s home appears to Neddy as if to highlight Neddy’s identity as an old man.
The final pools of Neddy’s quest represent the completion of Neddy’s transformation into an old man. Neddy is now the man he once taunted: someone too weak to dive into the pool. The man who slapped the bust of Aphrodite in the morning is gone, only leaving an old man exhausted from completing what is originally a young man’s quest.
We can see the passage of time through the swimming pools. At first, Neddy is a strong and active man. Warm in the sun, he feels like a ‘legendary figure’, as though there is nothing he can’t accomplish. As he goes from pool to pool, however, Neddy changes. Unknowingly Neddy grows weaker, unable to pull himself out of pools without a ladder and unwilling to dive in as he once did. Around him, the bright summer day grows increasingly colder, and a storm passes. The trees lose their leaves, and the constellations change to those of fall. His status in the social circle has changed as well. Once respected and given to disregarding those who aren’t part of his group, he is now disregarded by Grace Biswanger and the bartender at her party. Neddy’s old acquaintances pity him for his ‘misfortunes’, which Neddy isn’t aware that he has suffered. A lot has happened as he’s been moving from pool to pool, and Neddy has undergone these changes unwittingly.
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