John Cheever's the Swimmer & Term Paper

It's all the fault, she decided,... Of these absurd class distinctions."

Mansfield blatantly shows us the indifferent heartlessness that the wealthy feel toward the poor, when Laura wants to stop the garden party out of respect for a worker who has died on the road outside their gate:

Oh, Laura!" Jose began to be seriously annoyed. "If you're going to stop a band playing every time some one has an accident, you'll lead a very strenuous life. I'm every bit as sorry about it as you. I feel just as sympathetic." Her eyes hardened. She looked at her sister just as she used to when they were little and fighting together. "You won't bring a drunken workman back to life by being sentimental," she said softly.

Jose (short for Josephine) is heartless, and, of course, a "strenuous" life is a most disagreeable thought for those who live in leisure, if we are to accept Mansfield's characterizations.When these stories were written, there were very few millionaires in the world compared with today. Affluence, especially in those times, was seen as a mysterious curiosity that was viewed with fascination and disgust. Although a leisurely life certainly could contribute to a unique set of problems, the stories illustrate what seems to be a commonly held attitude that the wealthy would not know a real problem if it bit them. Further, not having suffered much in life, the truly wealthy are not capable of real values or scruples because they are blinded by their own comfort and greed. In addition, the struggle for wealth and prestige can be deadly to the human spirit. Finally, it is probably not desirable to attain wealth, because the more one has, the more devastating its loss.

Works Cited

Mansfield, Katherine Garden Party, (publisher), (city):

Cheever, John The Swimmer, (publisher),….....