The Swimmer

In John Cheever’s short story “The Swimmer”, the main character Ned Merrill, does exactly as the story’s title implies. The story is being told in the third person. It begins with a small group of people sitting around one of Ned Merrill’s neighbor’s pool one midsummer Sunday. All of the guests are talking of how they had drank too much the night before and are suffering from terrible hangovers. The story’…

…understand, Ned reaches the end of his journey. He is very tired, so tired in fact that he barely made it through the last pool. Ned then sees his house. It is in pitiful shape but believes that a earlier storm is half to blame. He then finds the house locked and dark. He shouts and pounds on the door, but no one comes. Finally looking in the window he sees the place is empty.