I had an extremely hard time understanding The Swimmer because of the almost whimsical nature of it. The hero tries to swim through everyone's pool in order to get back home. In discussing the story it becomes apparent that this is a pilgrimage in which to seek redemption. In applying that I came to see it as the man was an alcoholic and the water symbolized him coming to grips with that. He swims through the pools of the rich noticing how they're all fake and pretending to be happy and the water (alcohol) allows him to mingle with them. Eventually he discovers one of the neighbors does not drink anymore and that his family has fallen into harsh time. Apparently his drinking has caused things to move on without him and he seeks to swim, free of alcohol, in order to win back his family sober. The most interesting scene is when he's at the public pool. He's uncomfortable because he's thrust into situations with normal people, unlike the "fake" people who live in a nice community away from prying eyes. His dirty laundry is aired for normal people to see. When he finally gets home the house is up for sale and is disarray with his family missing. The message I ended up getting is that, since this is written after WWII, we may have nothing to fear from enemies outside our country, the greatest fear is losing everything over something stupid. The hero loses his family because he could not get past his drunken haze. All he has is this never ending journey to find them and the memories of what they used to be. The fact that he only has a few scattered memories of his family shows he is starting to forget who they even were.
Critical Question: If this is not the message of the story then what is? What clues and scenes can be used to come up with an alternative theme?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment