Fear In Jane Austen's The Swimmer

The short story ”The Swimmer” is about fear. Fear is being afraid of something particular or someone. It’s a strong and yet an uncomfortable feeling, which is often caused by some kind of imagination in our head. For example if you are afraid of being in the dark alone, you can fear what’s going to happen or even to be attacked by someone, your mind is being filled up with fear.

In this short story we only meet a woman, who is important for the short story, but also the main character. Often she sits at her desk and looking longingly at the river outside. She longs to swim in the river every day, but she is constantly afraid that someone might see her. She lives in a fear for being seen. The fear she lives with keeps her from doing what she enjoys. As where are told in the short story, it’s a very hot day and she is feeling warm, therefore she decides to

The beauty of the swan keeps her interest. In the story we are told that she is trying every time she meets the swan in the river to get closer to it. The swan symbolizes her fear and it brings her closer and closer to facing her fear. Every time she swims by the swan she feels relieved. The thought about the swan fills up her mind and it draws her to go into the river again and again. She faces her fear by going into the river every day and when she swims by the swan she gets closer to it. She is curious why the swan never nears her and every time it stays at the exact same place as it has done the past days before. For example “It never moves towards her. It doesn’t hiss, nor arch its wings. It remains untouched by her presence”. Here the writer uses foreshadowing because he gives us some kind of hint about the swan but also what the woman are going to find out later in the story. As she spends all of her time in the river, she forgets about her real life but all of this is caused by the thought of the swan and the