Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Neddy, the Swimmer

This story had a very deep impact on me, unlike most stories do. The entire story to me, represented the passing of time. In an interesting way, Cheever creates this big metaphor for time moving forward, but instead referring to it as "swimming the county," in Neddy's words. It begins with him with his wife, at a friend's pool. When he embarks on his journey (to swim the county), this is where I feel it starts to get heavy. At first, Cheever makes it out as Neddy is just on this silly little endeavor, but  overtime, begins to incorporate more information about Neddy's life. He went broke, something happened with his children, and he has no idea. The reason I believe Cheever had Neddy so lost, so confused on what had happened, signifies that time passes without us. Things inevitably move forward, there is no stopping it, and that is hard to grasp. Neddy is a man in a crisis. So much has happened, so much life has slipped through his fingers until he was here, cold and locked out of his former residence. I felt so bad for Neddy because I think this happens to all of us. I recently turned 23, and truthfully, I feel like I was just turning 20, or turning 21. The passage of time is relentless, and we're all victims of it. That's what I think Cheever's message was. 

4 comments:

  1. I understand exactly how you feel about time slipping Cory. Despite being married recently I told my husband I still felt 17 I can't believe I'm 23 and just had my 3 year anniversary. Life does seem to slip through our finger and after reading your post I can see how this story reflect this aspect of life. It creates a feeling of mortality, for years to pass by so quickly, for your family life to seem to have crumbled in the process of one days adventure you feel just how little time you really do have. I don't know if that's what Cheever's message was but I don't believe author's have one distinct message. I think like most forms of art there's areas of interpretation and I think this interpretation is creative and very deep. Thank you for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the way the story went from lighthearted to deep and dark so quickly had a big impact on me too. At first I thought he was just buzzed out having a good time, but then soon realized this wasn't a day but a long period of time in which he lost everything. He lost it all over a period of time, but yo made a good point how he was lost in time, like we all get, and next thing you know its too late.
    Good post

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great point Cory! I find it harder to feel bad for Ned at the end of his "journey" but you raise a good point that it is easy to let time slip away and it's surprising when it does. You have to remain present and Ned doesn't at all, he doesn't take an active role in anything but drinking. He can't hold onto his money, friends, wife, or children and these are the things that make those years important and special. So once it's all gone by and you didn't participate, you've got nothing left. No memories, no people to spend your remaining days with, then you've missed the point of life - and that's what Ned has done, he missed the point.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think the surreal form of the story really helps communicate these ideas Cory mentions about time slipping away and us wondering what happened. There is that shift that happens with the storm that is very masterfully written. I wonder how we might compare Neddy to Willy Loman. And is Neddy a completely sympathetic character? Yes, time does slip away from all of us, but is Neddy is at least partially responsible for his circumstances?

    ReplyDelete