Student Essay on Comparison: "Babylon Revisited" and "the Swimmer"

Comparison: "Babylon Revisited" and "the Swimmer"

Summary:   Babylon Revisited by: F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Swimmer by: John Cheever

This paper reviews two short stories of men in decline. In both stories the main characters face similar problems and suffer from similar illusions, but the authors describe these problems in different way. In the stories "The Swimmer", by John Cheever and "Babylon Revisited", by F. Scott the main characters have similar problems. The authors explore these problems in similar ways, but there are differences. "The Swimmer" is the story of a man who on the surface is just swimming 8 miles across the county through people's back yard pools, but as time passes he slowly realizes that his life is falling to pieces. In "Babylon Revisited" the main character is revisiting his old hometown of Paris in an attempt to get his daughter back from his sister-in-law and her husband. However in his visit he allows his past to cause problems with this.

The main characters in both short stories are men with a past of success, but are currently declining. Charlie from "Babylon Revisited" is a former alcoholic who has lost his wife to death and his daughter to his sister-in-law due to his alcoholism. In his attempt to get his daughter back it seems that he wants nothing to do with people of his past but he leaves ways for these people to find him. He also has one and only one drink a day to conquer his problem with alcohol. The author makes it seem as if he is not even aware that he still has a problem and that he, consciously or subconsciously, wants to revisit his past. This problem is similar to that of Neddy's in "The Swimmer." Both Charlie and Neddy think their life is great, but find out they are mistaken. When the story starts Neddy seems like a normal happy man with a family and a good life, even Neddy himself believes this. Only by interacting with other people do the reader and Neddy learn terrible things about his life. Both these main characters need to face their problems before they can ever be happy.

Although there are similarities in the main characters, there are also differences in the two characters as well as the way the author describes their problems. . The author in Babylon revisited describes Charlie doing things himself, which provide evidence of his problem as if he in a way consciously knows that he still has an infatuation with his past lifestyle and friends. For example he seems to want no contact with his old friends, but he leaves his sister-in-law's address with the bartender of an old bar he used to attend. Charlie has already been on a decline after the great depression and thinks he is on his way back up. This gives the impression that he knows the consequences of his past and is still unable to forget it and put it behind him. Neddy however has always been a fairly wealthy person in a fairly wealthy family and is unable to grasp the concept that he is having any problems in his life. The problems Neddy faces seem to be completely unconscious. The author only reveals these problems through dialect between Neddy and various neighbors. Neddy doesn't seem to know about certain things before they are brought up. In one encounter Mrs. Halloran apologizes for Neddy's misfortunes, and Neddy acts as if he has no idea about these misfortunes. Mrs. Halloran proceeds to talk about Neddy having to sell his house, and again he seems to have no idea what she is talking about.

Neddy and Charlie are both heroes of their story and both suffering from similar illusions. However the way in which Cheever and Fitzgerald explore these illusions is quite different. Fitzgerald uses Charlie himself to explore his illusions. The main illusion for both main characters is that their life is great when it is not. However Fitzgerald's Charlie has different specific problems than Cheever's Neddy. Charlie is under the illusion that he is a recovered alcoholic. The author uses the fact that Charlie has one drink a day to explore this and leaves the reader open to decide for them self if he has control of his alcoholism. Another example of Charlie's illusion is when he gives his sister-in-law's address to the bartender although Charlie believes that he wants nothing to do with his past. Again the reader has the ability to make his or her own conclusion about these actions. Cheever uses the change of time, the surroundings and other characters in his story to explore the illusions of Neddy. Neddy has a similar illusion to Charlie; he sees his life as being fine when it is not. Cheever uses the change in seasons to show time passing, leaves changing color. Also the temperature declining along with Neddy's perception of his life.

This paper has discussed two short stories with males suffering in life as the main characters. These characters suffer from similar illusions and have similar problems. However the authors of each story portray and explore these problems and illusions in different ways and different techniques.