Historically it has been viewed that one's place in society is fixed. This concept included the notion that not only was it impossible for one to move up in society, but also that it was difficult for one to move down the social ladder. The American dream, of course, promotes the idea that one can move up in the social ladder. However, many fail to realize that one can plummet from highest social class to the bottom, without even realizing how or why. John Cheever's The Swimmer, examines and reveals this problem through conflicts of attitude between the narrator and the viewpoint character, Neddy Merrill. The narrator conveys the attitude that social status is fleeting through the use of irony and shifts in time. Neddy's attitude, however, is to cling to his social status through denial, over-rationalization and an arrogant sense of invulnerability.

The narrator uses irony to...