Learning to Swim by Graham Swift
"Learning to Swim" by Graham Swift explores the complexities of familial relationships within the troubled Singleton family during a holiday in Cornwall, England. The story is centered around Mr. Singleton's attempts to teach his son, Paul, how to swim, while Mrs. Singleton reflects on her discontented marriage. She recalls moments from their past, including her feelings of isolation and her idealized vision of love, contrasting sharply with Mr. Singleton's emotionally distant demeanor. The narrative delves into themes of control, desire, and the struggle for connection, highlighting the tension between parental expectations and a child's autonomy.
As Paul grapples with his own fears of water, he becomes a symbol of the couple's unresolved conflicts, caught between his father’s ambitions and his mother’s fantasies. Mrs. Singleton hopes for her son to fail, fearing that his success will deepen the divide between them. Meanwhile, Mr. Singleton's dreams of swimming to an empty shore suggest his desire for freedom from the constraints of his marriage. Ultimately, the story presents a poignant exploration of love, longing, and the profound impact of parental relationships on a child's development, making it a reflective piece on the nature of human connections.
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Learning to Swim by Graham Swift
First published: 1978, as short story; 1982, as short story collection
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: The 1970's
Locale: Seaside in Cornwall, England
Principal Characters:
Mrs. Singleton , a wife and motherMr. Singleton , her husband and a civil engineerPaul , their six-year-old son
The Story
"Learning to Swim," told in the third person, describes the dysfunctional Singleton family's holiday in England's Cornwall. As Mr. Singleton teaches his young son Paul to swim, his wife reflects on her past and her relationship with her husband. She recalls that she had first considered leaving Mr. Singleton while vacationing on a Greek island before they were married. She had enjoyed the holiday, but while she lay on the beach, he remained in the sea, afraid, she believed, of the land. After they were married, she again thought about leaving him. He had become professionally successful but was personally distant, preferring his engineering accomplishments to her.
Their love life, or lack of it, also has led Mrs. Singleton to consider ending the marriage. Her ideal lover is an ethereal artist, but Mr. Singleton is an athletic swimmer and engineer. She claims she has taken the lead in their sexual relations throughout their marriage, but their lovemaking has been almost nonexistent. In her opinion, her husband simply does not want to be happy. In spite of the infrequency of sexual intercourse, she did become pregnant and bear a child. In reflecting on their past arguments, she thinks that she has always forgiven him, as a mother would forgive a child. However, Mr. Singleton has rejected her mothering and, she feels, her sexuality. After Paul's birth, she had wished to put her husband into her womb, and she believes he had desired the same thing.
Mr. Singleton, too, has thought about leaving Mrs. Singleton, once after she had taken him to a classical music concert in London. No lover of music, he suspected that she simply wished to humiliate him. At school he had been a competitive swimmer, and his success established in his mind that he needed no one else, and he pursued physics and mathematics with single-minded dedication. He often dreams about swimming to an empty distant shore, and when he makes love to Mrs. Singleton, he thinks about swimming through her to that pristine land.
From the shore, Mrs. Singleton watches Paul's swimming efforts. She hopes he fails. Success will mean victory for Mr. Singleton and break the thread between her and Paul, an erotic thread wherein Paul will grow up, slender like her idealized artist lovers, and she will pose nude for him. When she calls to them, saying that it is time to come out of the sea and have some ice cream, Mr. Singleton ignores her, urging Paul to try again. While waiting, she fantasizes about making love to other young boys who, she believes, are avidly admiring her figure. From the sea, Mr. Singleton, after appraising his wife's attractive figure, reflects that in his dreams there is no one on the further shore, and if Paul swam, Mr. Singleton could leave his wife.
Unlike his father, Paul loathes the water and fears his father's gripping hands as he fears his mother's engulfing embrace with the towel when he returns to the shore. With no exit from the opposing demands of his parents, Paul begins to swim, away from his mother on the beach as well as away from his father's reaching hands, swimming toward the open sea.