The Swimmer

“[Neddy Merrill] was a slender man—he seemed to have the especial slenderness of youth—and while he was far from young he had slid down his banister that morning and given the bronze backside of Aphrodite on the hall table a smack, as he jogged toward the smell of coffee in his dining room. He might have been compared to a summer’s day, particularly the last hours of one, and while he lacked a tennis racket or a sail bag the impression was definitely one of youth, sport, and clement weather.”

This introduction of Neddy Merrill establishes his relationship to his surroundings and himself. He is wealthy enough to have a bronze sculpture of Aphrodite on his hall table, and this classical allusion supports the text’s allusions to the Narcissus myth. He is playfully misogynistic enough to slap the statue’s behind. His paradoxical and perpetual youth ties to the Narcissus myth as well, as he is in “the last hours” of a summer’s day—approaching the end of the peak of his youth, but not quite crossing the threshold into middle or old age.

“He had made a discovery, a contribution to modern geography; he would name the stream Lucinda after his wife. He was not a practical joker nor was he a fool but he was determinedly original and had a vague and modest idea of himself as a legendary figure.”

Neddy conceives of himself as an explorer and adventurer, one who “discovers” that which already exists by simply being the first to put a name to it. He thinks of himself as smart and original, and this endless confidence leads to his downfall, similar to Narcissus.

“Making his way home by an uncommon route gave him the feeling that he was a pilgrim, an explorer, a man with a destiny, and he knew that he would find friends all along the way; friends would line the banks of the Lucinda River.”

Here, John Cheever foreshadows Neddy’s relationship to his neighbors; while in this sentence he describes them as “friends,” there is almost no instance (except for his conversation with Helen and Eric) when he truly seems to enjoy his interactions with those he meets. He constantly tries to duck out of conversations and spends much of his time judging others and engaging in superficial interaction.