Archetypes, Culture & "The Swimmer"

When considering our unit inquiry question, "How does the use of archetypes in literature reflect or challenge cultural views?", it is important to consider the ways in which an archetype is deeply rooted in a culture. Since cultures are always changing, it can be difficult to assign meaning to an archetype unless we understand the context in which it is found. Through a close literary analysis of short stories, we can identify archetypes that surface in a culture's literature. Only then can we begin to apply the archetype in a way that helps us find meaning.

While reading "The Swimmer", by John Cheever with the inquiry question in mind, several distinct archetypes become clear and help us to develop connections between symbols, culture, and meaning.

1. Water is a crystal clear example of an archetype and this story is full of it! Jung believed that water is the most common symbol for the unconscious. This idea becomes especially important when we consider Neddy's crisis. The narrator asks, "Was his memory failing or had he so disciplined it in the repression of unpleasant facts that he had damaged his sense of the truth?" (220). It is implied that Neddy has lost his home and family and is swimming as a means to forget or repress. What's really interesting about this particular crisis is that it is highly representative of our culture. The family structure has collapsed in modern America and the result is often a fractured individual psyche. If the water symbolizes the unconscious, then it could mean that Neddy is not aware of his fractured self. He uses defense mechanisms like repression and denial to bury the truth. The water imagery - the pools, Lucinda River, streams, rain, the well, a fountain - are all important to recognize in the story because of their archetypal significance.

2. The Journey or Initiation is a good example of a narrative archetype found in "The Swimmer". Neddy is a sort of modern hero, undergoing a series of challenges (swimming across the country and tolerating the abuses of his pretentious neighbors). The Journey / Initiation Archetype usually consists of three phases 1) separation, 2) transformation, and 3) return. We can identify Neddy as an archetypal character because he identifies himself as one. The narrator indicates that Neddy had, "the feeling that he was a pilgrim, an explorer, a man with a destiny" (218). Here we get the sense of direction or purpose. But it is difficult to say how he has changed over the course of the story. However, he does begin to cry for "probably the first time in his adult life" (224). He then returns home, finding that it is empty. Perhaps Neddy has come to the realization that he is broken, just like the gutter that hangs "over the front door like an umbrella rib" (225). He is the result, or maybe the cause of, a broken family. This issue resonates throughout our culture as the divorce rate continues to rise.

3. There are also seasonal archetypes functioning in the story. We know that the story takes place in "midsummer". But it also contains signs of Fall - which represents death or decay. Neddy felt, "a peculiar sadness at this sign of autumn" (220). This change could mirror his own internal decay - the result of a destroyed family.

All of these archetypes help us find meaning in the story because we place them in a cultural context. If divorce or family structure was an unknown issue or irrelevant to the times, it might be difficult to make sense of Neddy's struggle. We identify this issue as culturally relevant and the archetypes we find serve as evidence to reinforce the meaning.