He still cares about her and is confused about his wife. He even takes her to the doctor to see if there is anything wrong with her physically. . The reader begins to feel badly for the helpless narrator because he is at his wit end with his seemingly depressed wife. .
Another ambiguous feature of the story deals with the style in which it was written. Even though it is a monologue, the main character speaks of his problems at home while simultaneously discussing Jack Mc Morrow's pool shots. Upon reading the story for the first time, the reader may glance over the italicized text and not give it much thought. When reading it a second time, the reader will notice that every time Jack misses an easy shot, it relates to the narration about Mae. "She was O.K., according to the doctor. That was a tough one to miss, Jack. . Keeripes! What a miss! (Pg. 33)" Although these actions could be caused by a simple miscalculation of pool shots, when contemplating alternative scenarios, it could be that Jack impregnated Mae and they were afraid that the results of the doctor's test could reveal it. It is interesting how the narrator never picks up on the clues, which are seemingly obvious from Jack's behavior. It could be also that the narrator does not want to recognize that his wife is having an affair. Maybe he is afraid of what will happen if everything is brought out in the open.
In addition to Mae"s crying spells, she becomes frantic when her husband goes to play pool. When he tries to leave the house she quizzes him on his every move. She asks where he is going, what he is doing and whom is he going to be with. If he tells her that he is going to go play some pool she gets angry and starts yelling at him. She is so afraid that he will talk about her and her actions to whoever is at the pool hall. She becomes hysterical, especially if he is going to be shooting with Jack Mc Morrow. "She was nuts on the subject of you.
As you step into the pool hall you can instantly smell stall cigarette smoke. ... She is reading a newspaper, and seem unconcerned with what is caring on in the pool hall. ... When you arrive at table eight you take a few minuets to notice others in the pool hall. ... They chitchat with Kathy while the leisurely play their game of pool. ... Nevertheless people from all background flock to this little old pool all. ...
I closed my eyes and stood straight up in order to calm myself down. ... I powered my hands and chalked up my pool stick for the last time. ... I pulled the pool stick back and pushed it forward as it slid between my fingers. ... The vibrations of the hit course though my bones and body and the sound seemed to ricochet off the thick walls of the bar/pool hall. ... He stood up straight and tense as he watched the eight ball make the trip to the left side corner pocket. ...
John Cheever's, "The Swimmer," is a short story that is highly praised for its blend of realism and surrealism. ... This is evident when he stops in at the Sachses' pool and forgets that his friend Eric had been ill (389). ... As, he continues to progress from pool to pool, he continues to get colder and grow weaker. ... The final pool is freezing cold which suggests to the reader that autumn has arrived fully. ... For example, the bartender at the Biswangers' pool party is rude to him which means, "[Neddy] had suffered some loss of social esteem," (390). ...
Throughout my educational career I received straight As. ... And Mom would wake us all up at 5:30 to swim in the cold pool at the YMCA. ... He had spied me sunbathing in a bikini by the pool at the apartment complex we shared. ... After John was born in November, we gave up our house on lease and moved into a thirty-eight foot trailer in Seminole, Florida. ... Being a NASA engineer, Rusty was busy with work; meanwhile, I spent my days taking Noah and John to the beach, park, and children's museum. ...
"He was far from young", (Cheever 1), is how John Cheever describes the main character Neddy Merrill in his story "The Swimmer." ... Each swimming pool is a symbol of a period of time that Neddy passes through as he swims across the pool. ... John Cheever uses symbolism to reinforce the theme of the unavoidable of aging through the empty house and ladders. ...
Gay-Straight Alliances Have Difficulty Uniting Over the past five years, gay-straight alliances have had to deal with more discrimination than ever. ... According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, over 1,000 gay-straight alliances have been developed. Gay-Straight Alliances are high school clubs for gay students and their straight supporters that work against discrimination based on sexual preference. ... Gay-straight alliances provide a safe haven for harassed students. ... Many view gay-straight alliances as clubs dealing with just sex. ...
For instance the diving pool, it's the biggest pool there ranging from seven feet to eleven feet deep. All of the teenage kids that come to the pool are automatically summoned to that particular pool. ... The pool opens at noon and closes at six every day. ... It's like they take over the pool like it's there second home. ... Pool rats get kick out of the pool on an everyday basis. ...
The 1978 MTV program Scared Straight' was a juvenile crime deterrence effort whereby kids of varying ages visit inmates and experience a front-row into the "realities " of prison life. ... The audience in Scared Straight consists of a decidedly middle-class pool of children. ... Critics might argue that children forced to endure a Scared Straight' program is crossing the line. It could traumatize the child, or it could scare them straight. ... The selection for participants in the Scared Straight featured teenage children that were already in trouble (juvenile hall or other documente...
He got involved with this division after his son was kidnaped from a public pool and presumably was murdered. ... In the end, John does not commit the murder. ... Lamar, the director of Precrime had set up John because he knew that John was on to his murder. ... Now they have someone, an anti-conformist, shooting down their great program, a program that has shown positive results for six straight years. ... An officer sees the video as John is watching it. ...
