The Swimmer

John Cheever's 'The Swimmer' must be one of the best short stories I've ever read. It is so fast, nothing is ever still he is at constant motion, situations chance every second, he goes from one house to the other each of them having a different thing to say. Although, it takes some time to figure out what it all means specially because the 'ending' if one can call it that (which you can't) is so inconclusive and efusive that it makes it so much more interesting. Few writers could even dream of writing such an interesting story in so little pages. The only possible explanation I can think of is that he spent his entire life on that 8-mile journey. It would make sense, although in the story everything happens in a sunday afternoon, it would make more sense if it happened through his life, progressively loosing everything, becoming older, weaker, losing his house and daughters and all that happens. Even at the end, the whole point of the journey is made worthless by his own situation "but he was so stupefied with exhaustion that his triumph seemed vague". Cheever's goal was probably to criticize life in the suburbs in postwar america, excesive drinking, partying but in the end everything is worthless and meaningless and shallow and the most important thing, life consuming, which is in my opinion the best plausible explanation.