John Cheever, The Swimmer:
Pg. 1490

“He was a slender man – he seemed to have the especial slenderness of youth –and while he was far from young he had slid down his banister that morning and given the bronze backside of Aphrodite on the hall table a smack, as he jogged toward the smell of coffee in his dining room.”

Neddy Merrill seems to be stuck in childish ways; he acts as if he is much younger and immature then he is. Neddy is influenced by the residents at the pool and became more into alcohol then living in the moment. In the beginning of his journey he was more of a man who was excited and was able to acknowledge his feelings, instead as time passed he then his emotions with alcohol.

Pg. 1496

“Looking over head he saw that the stars had come out, but why should he seem to see Andromeda, Cepheus and Cassiopeia? What had become of the constellations of midsummer? He began to cry. It was probably the first time in his adult life that he had ever cried, certainly the first time in his life he had felt so miserable, cold, tired and bewildered.”

Neddy has been so stuck on the dependence of alcohol that he has pushed his feelings aside so that he had lost himself and hasn’t been able to cry or let out his emotions. Over the process of this story Neddy slowly realizes that time is going to pass anyway and there is no control. He eventually comes to his emotions and is able to cry when he noticed that time had passed unnoticed while he was drinking. Neddy wasn’t able to live in the moment, but now those moments are gone he know that he has to accept and move on in a better direction.