Entry #12 - "The Swimmer" By John Cheever

Entry #12 - "The Swimmer" by John Cheever

John Cheever often wrote about a vanishing way of life in America and the alienation he believed was represented by the new suburban way of life in America. In your view, why might someone find the suburbs alienating as compared to life in a small town or compared to life in a neighborhood of a big city? Have you ever lived in a small town? What sort of comment(s) do you feel the story “The Swimmer” makes about suburban life in 1950’s America?

              Compared to small towns, and based on the context of this story, the suburbs are certainly alienating in the sense of social interactions. In contrast to the warm and receptive ways of most people in small towns, suburbs do lack the sincere care and affection small towns and even city neighborhoods are characterized for. This may not necessarily be because people are innately careless or indifferent to other, but because families tend to become social islands is it may be called that way. Though this might not be the rule, many families residing in American suburbs require high paying jobs in order to help support their lifestyle. This means both, husband and wife are forced or at least expected to go out and work, creating a gap between them, their families, and between families in general. Families in small towns, on the other hand, do keep close relations with at least those surrounding their property, still conducting business transactions among each other, which helps support the financial needs of those involved. Those families do attend the same schools, are part of the same church congregations, and for the most part their children do marry each other, strengthening their social bond and community even further. Cheever comments about a society which has stopped carrying about those who for one reason or another are no longer part of their circle, be it for social or financial reasons, treated with indifference, bashing their names, and pushing them to move away, consequently marginalizing themselves.