Drinking Away Your Life: The Swimmer Essay

Drinking Away Your Life

As Ned journeys through the stream he discovered and named Lucinda, things gradually get worse. Ned goes through a change from realism to surrealism. The use of alcohol consumption throughout The Swimmer helps demonstrate and show Neds drastic change from sanity to insanity. John Cheever used events that happened to him, such as his drinking problem to make a more realistic, relatable story that allows more people to connect with.

While at a friends house, Ned decides to swim his way home by swimming through all the pools in his neighborhood. He names this route the Lucinda River, after his wife. Ned is determined to make this journey although it is quite some distance. At each new swimming pool Ned stops and chats with his neighbors while having a drink. Every new stop reveals more about Neds life while he consumes more and more alcohol. As Ned continues his voyage he travels to many of his friends houses, and at each house he gets a new drink. It was his fourth or fifth drink and he had swum nearly half the length of the Lucinda River. He felt tired, clean and pleased at that moment to be alone; pleased with everything (Cheever 202). At this point Ned feels at peace, hes calm and content where hes at. However as Ned continues his expedition people stop giving him alcohol and people start treating him worse. The bartender served him but served him rudely. His was a world in which the caterers men kept the social score, and to be rebuffed by a part time barkeep meant that he had suffered some loss of social esteem (Cheever 206). Ned cannot remember why or what happened to his social life to be treated so poorly. Was he losing his memory, has his gift for concealing painful facts let him forget that he had sold his house, that his children were in trouble and that his friend had been ill (Cheever 205). Ned says that he has a gift for concealing painful facts that allows himself to block events out. Since he used his gift so much, he has forgotten all the past events that happened in his life, which makes him believe everything is normal. As Neds journey dwindles down he is cut off of free drinks which ironically makes him feel more tired and miserable. Now with Ned at the end of his journey his desire for a drink grows stronger as he grows weaker. Ned finally arrives at his home in a state of complete exhaustion to find his house empty. His house is locked completely, no lights are on, and his family is gone. Before Ned could realize it, he swam his life away and lost track of reality.

Throughout Cheevers life and success, he suffered a twenty year long problem with alcohol abuse. On May 12, 1973, Cheever woke coughing uncontrollably and learned at the hospital that he had almost died from pulmonary edema caused by his severe drinking habits (Coale). Unfortunately Cheever never learned his lesson from this incident and in March 1975 Cheevers drinking became suicidal. His brother Fred drove John to Ossining and on April 9th Cheever was admitted to the Smithers Alcoholic Rehabilitation Unit in New York, where he shared a bedroom and bath with four other men. Cheever stayed in the institute for twenty-eight days, reflecting and conquering his problem. On May 7th, Cheever was released and never drank a drop of alcohol again (Coale). As Cheever recovered from his alcoholic problem, he used his writing to help confront and conquer his past problem. The Swimmer appeared during the period when Cheever was instituted for his alcoholism (Barnhisel). Since Cheever wrote this short story during this time, his perception of alcohol and its effect on people is strongly influenced in the story. On first reading The Swimmer, it seems that it is a drunken fancy that leads Ned to embark upon his quest, or weather he is simply a delusional alcoholic trying to make his life seem more exciting (Barnhisel). During Neds quest he goes to the Welchers house to swim across there pool. Ned notices the pool is empty and the house is for sale, yet he cannot remember hearing any thing about the Welchers moving away. Ned believes his memory is failing him, when in reality he suppressed the memories out due to his heavy drinking. I dont recall having sold the house, and the girls are at home (Cheever 205). Major events that have happened to Ned are no longer being remembered. Serious physical, mental, and spiritual disintegration caused by prolonged alcoholic drinking have damaged Neds conception of realism and surrealism (Barnhisel). When Ned arrives home and the house is empty and in disrepair, both Ned and the reader are confused. Due to Ned constantly being drunk, he thinks he is still married, and only when he arrives home does cold, dark, wet, sober reality confront him. By not revealing the actuality of the situation, Cheever creates in his readers the confusion of the alcoholic and the effect it has on them.

In conclusion the use of alcohol consumption throughout The Swimmer shows Neds change from surrealism to realism, sanity to insanity. The major use of alcohol in this short story is mainly due to actual events that happened to John Cheever. Cheever used his alcohol problem and put it into text to help readers understand the dangers of alcohol. Ned cannot remember events that have already happened, nor can he remember what time it is or how much time has passed. A major reason why is due to the constant consumption of alcohol. As Ned swims home, he loses his strength, and his friends begin saying things that suggest that a great deal of time has gone by. When Ned arrives home, he finds his house empty and realizes that by his senseless drinking and by confusing surrealism with realism his life went by right before his eyes.

Works Cited

Cheever, John. The Swimmer. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th Compact edition. New York: Longman, 2010. 200-207. Print.

Barnhisel, Greg. "An overview of The Swimmer." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2011.

Coale, Samuel. "Cheever, John (1912-1982)." Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. George B. Perkins, Barbara Perkins, and Phillip Leininger. Vol. 1. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 178. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 May. 2011.