ipl-logo

S. J Butler The Swimmer Summary

929 Words4 Pages

The short story “The swimmer” is written by S.J Butler in 2011. The story is about a girl, who desires to swim her days off in the river. But something is preventing her from pursuing her wish. She has a fear of being seen by other people, and the fishermen could see her, if she decided to take a swim. On a hot day, she decides to conquer her fear of being seen, therefore she got ready and went for a swim in the river. Many days went by, and she got used to spending her days in the water, she got to unravel a curiosity for a “lokal” swan in the river. Both day and night she observed the swan and its movement, until she at last swam close enough to touch it. The theme of the story is concurring your fears, the main character in the story, takes …show more content…

There are many hidden symbols and you have to read deep between the lines to catch the meaning. taking an example from the tekst, the author describes how she now on a daily basis swims in the river, where the river in this case could be referred to as a symbol of the main characters obstacles in life, and how finally going into the river she wins over her fear. She gets the freedom that she has longed for. She pulled her selv together and went swimming in the river, using that as a symbol for her pulling her life together. The swan is used as a symbol of light, “She’s quit unready for the swan. Its floating midstream, in profile…. she had never before realised the sheer size of a swan” (P.3 L.72-75) could be the same as using the phrase, “the light at the end of the tunnel”. As the days went by, she always managed to pull herself one step closer to the swan, even though she new it could be dangerous. You have to take risks in life. She took a risk, until she finally reached it. She reached her goal. In the end letting go of the swan, did not mean giving up, it meant that she let her fears go and conquered the things she was rejecting and running away from in …show more content…

Comparing the swan as her goal in life, was simply because of the way the author described it, the white colour, the elegant movements, it 's a comparison for those beautiful things in life, which everyone desire. Especially choosing to include the colour of the swan, colours are defined in so many ways, but white is always positive. It is the colour of life, and angels and beauty. The river is cleverly chosen because of its strong current, which is known for dragging people with it. As well are the difficulties in life. Choosing the river as a symbol of life, and the main character spending most of her time in the river, was cleverly chosen, because of the

Show More
Related
906 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story “The Man Who Jumped into the Water” by Laurie Colwin, Charlie Hartz, who is a rich man builds a swimming pool that’s shorter than the size of an Olympic pool. The neighbors are always over and swimming with him or just sitting by the pool. He is always involved in the neighbor’s lives including the narrator’s sister, Willis, Jeremy, and the narrator herself. Throughout, the story Charlie tries to help the kid 's situations as they come up.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

Then the narrator is in a pickle, he catches the biggest bass he ever caught. He has to choose over Sheila on the bass. What does he choose? Sheila of course but towards the end of the story he regrets that decision. Just throughout the story W.D. Wetherel uses many specific imagery.

Read More
472 Words | 2 Pages

What seemed to be the biggest bass in the river, snagged on the line. There is no way the boy could let Sheila know of this. The rest of the night, the narrator maneuvers the boat perfectly and somehow manages to keep the fish on the line, without Sheila having any knowledge. They finally reach their destination and the boy is faced with a crippling decision. The boy has to either cut the line, letting the fish go, or risk having Sheila lose all interest in him by reeling in the fish.

Read More
731 Words | 3 Pages

“Waxen Wings” Literary Analysis All her life, Birdie experiences failure. However, the only thing that she takes away from the experience is success. So, whether this is a tragedy or not, Birdie only sees it as a chance to be triumphant. In Ha Songnan’s “Waxen Wings”, the character Birdie grows up wanting to fly and the ways that she attempts to achieve this goal shapes her into the person that she will become. Songnan uses a sequential structure in order to take the reader through the highs and lows of Birdies’ life.

Read More
893 Words | 4 Pages

Literary Analysis of The Swimmer Thesis: Cheever uses symbolism, imagery, and tone to convey the theme of narcissism and suburban emptiness during the 1960’s. Symbolism Pools Storms Seasons End of youth

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

Adventure and desire are common qualities in humans and Sarah Orne Jewett’s excerpt from “A White Heron” is no different. The heroine, Sylvia, a “small and silly” girl, is determined to do whatever it takes to know what can be seen from the highest point near her home. Jewett uses literary elements such as diction, imagery, and narrative pace to dramatize this “gray-eyed child” on her remarkable adventure. Word choice and imagery are necessary elements to put the reader in the mind of Sylvia as she embarks on her treacherous climb to the top of the world. Jewett is picturesque when describing Sylvia’s journey to the tip of one unconquered pine tree.

Read More
765 Words | 4 Pages

Symbols are used all throughout the book to add depth to the story. One example of this would be how the children all receive different things as they get older, and how each item has something to represent. A quote that shows this is “females lost their braids at Ten, and males, too, relinquished their long childish hair and took on the more manly short style which exposed their ears” (p. 46) A second symbol in the book is Jonas seeing the color red which is a very “Emotionally intense color” and symbolizes the arrival in conflicting emotions in Jonas. A third and final example

Read More
1202 Words | 5 Pages

In the play Agamemnon, there are many symbolism in it and a prominent one is symbolism of animals. There are not a lot of bird symbolism but they are still significant due to the reason that Aeschylus uses bird symbolism in Agamemnon to emphasize a certain characteristics of a character. This can be seen in Agamemnon and Menelaus portrayed as eagles, Cassandra symbolised as a nightingale, and Clytemnestra depicted as a crow. First, the earliest example of Aeschylus using bird symbolism in the play Agamemnon was with Agamemnon and Menelaus, as the two were portrayed as eagles.

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem, the speaker lived on an orchard farm where work ethic had been developed and strengthened. The speaker has developed a strong work ethic that drives her to stay up all night picking peaches. This strong work ethic encourages the girl to complete her responsibilities. “and the pond was—I could see as I laid the last peach in the water—full of fish and eyes.” The fish in the pond represent how the unseen events can rupture a person’s success within time with people challenging and downplaying one’s hard work and success.

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

The function of these symbols in the story play a pivotal role in how the reader perceives the characters and also how the theme of knowledge influences the nature

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

She says that hope can be found “(…) in the starry heads of dandelions turned sages,” which is pretty interesting because some people might view dandelions as weeds, but other find hope in them (5-6). Next she makes a similar comparison in saying that hope “(…) sticks to the wings of

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

“Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.” Symbols can add a deeper meaning than just an object itself that the author is trying to make. Symbols can also foreshadow what is yet to come. The audience can interpret a symbol in many ways it depends on their experience. In Southside Chicago the Younger family is struggling to have hope as they are always facing society.

Read More
1561 Words | 7 Pages

The author used symbolism throughout the whole story to show the difference between these characters. The symbolism is there to give us a further explanation on the family and also to tell us how much heritage is important to some, but not others. The first symbol

Read More
471 Words | 2 Pages

Furthermore her breathless trip from one Gate to another that was half way around the airport she demonstrates great use of metaphors. She strives for nearly impossible of making it through the rush of the conjuncted airport, filled with people coming in and out. She compares," I who have no sense of direction/raced exactly where he 'd told me, a fish/ slipped upstream deftly against the flow of a river..." She illustrates a fish swimming, the opposite way of the flow of a river to herself trying to get through. Emphasining her attempt she gives up at no cost and after so long makes it through and spaints to her plane.

Read More
501 Words | 3 Pages

You never know how helpless you are until you have a near death experience. One summer, when I was young, my family and I went to a water park. I didn’t know how to swim, but thankfully the majority of the park required no swimming ability. For one of the rides, I wanted to get out of my tube and jump around, but once I climbed out, I immediately sunk to the bottom. I tried to kick back up and just as my legs gave in, a lifeguard climbed in and pulled me up.

Read More

More about S. J Butler The Swimmer Summary

Related Topics

Open Document