The swimmer
It has been said that sometimes you have to look at where you have been to see where it is that you are going, but there are some people who fail to look at who they have become, and suddenly find themselves faced with a reality they don’t remember or understand. In “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, (1964, Rpt. In Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ed. Thomas Arp. 7th ed. NY: Harcourt Brace, 1998. 392-401) Ned Merrill is one of those people. As Ned's travels progress, we watch as Ned unknowingly transforms from a young man on a midsummer’s afternoon to an old man faced with a tragic present as winter is beginning. When Ned Merrill started out his swim along the Lucinda River, he seemed to be a strong and lighthearted young man. Since it was the early afternoon of a midsummer Sunday, Ned set out for his 8-mile swim with expectations of beating his wife home for supper. The four pools that made up the first leg of the Lucinda River were met with no ill will. In fact, Ned was met with warm faces with open arms, and bars.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Recreation Center, Lucinda River, Shirley Adams, Ned Merrill, , Thomas Arp, Harcourt Brace, John Cheever, lucinda river, swimming trunks, ned merrill, watch ned, hardly walk, ned ignores,
Approximate Word count = 702
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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