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Essay / Life will go on - 1343
There is a common belief that money cannot buy happiness. This may be true for most, but not for John Cheever's protagonist, Neddy Merrill, in "The Swimmer." John Cheever was born May 27, 1912, in Quincy, Massachusetts. He has written numerous short stories for various publishers such as The Atlantic, The Yale Review and The New Yorker. In 1930, John Cheever published his first article in The New Republic; and in 1941 he married Mary Winternitz, with whom he had two children, Susan and Benjamin. Cheever served in the Army during World War II; and after writing scripts for television series such as Life with Father. He has also taught at various institutions such as the University of Iowa, Boston University, Barnard College, and Sing Sing Prison. He received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. On June 18, 1982, Cheever died of cancer (Wilson 2). One of Cheever's best-known short stories is "The Swimmer." It was first published in 1964, at a time of great prosperity. This was the time when most middle- and upper-class Americans were enjoying the wealth and affluence of the post-war era, after World War II. It was during this time, when the suburbs, the setting of “The Swimmer,” were growing rapidly (Wilson 6). “The Swimmer” is a short story about a middle-aged man named Neddy Merrill who decides to swim home one day through the swimming pools of all his friends and neighbors. Throughout the return journey, Neddy encounters many friends and some conflicts as he advances along the "Lucinda River". Amidst the news, Neddy's journey becomes difficult and the owners of the pools he passed start to be rude to him. When he arrives home, he comes to the middle of paper... he is "The Swimmer..." "Explanator 50.1 (Fall 1991): 49-50. Rpt. in short story criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic Vol. 120. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literary Resource Center. Graves, Nora Calhoun. “Symptomatic Colors in John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” Critical Essays on John Cheever Ed. RG Collins. . in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec Vol. 57. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. ahschool.com/file.cfm?resourceid=6067&filename=20091207184417_734640623434.pdf Kathleen Wilson Vol.. 2014.