The analysis of “The Orphaned Swimming Pool”

John Updike was an American writer of novels, short stories and poetry. He was known for his
realistic but subtle depiction of ‘American, small-town, middle-class life’. Since he grew up in
Pennsylvania, his earlier fiction was set there, however, the later works were set in New
England. Among his most prominent novels are those from the ‘Rabbit’ series, the Pulitzer Prize
for Fiction was bestowed upon him twice for “Rabbit is Rich” and “Rabbit at Rest”. In response
to cultural shifts after September 11 he released the “Terrorist”. Aside from his multiple novels,
Updike was also famous for his short story collections, such as “The Same Door”, “Problems”
and many others. He also dedicated himself to non-fiction criticism and assays. As for his style,
it is considered to be filled with unusual rich vocabulary that described the physical world
extravagantly, following the realist tradition at the same time. He mainly focused on the
themes of marriage, fidelity and responsibility. Moreover, Updike had a tendency to expound
upon characters from earlier novels.
“The Orphaned Swimming Pool” is one of the stories where Updike exposes the themes of
marriage and divorce, in other words, human relationships. It captures the life of the Turner’s
swimming pool from its having been born to the day it perished away. The main characters of
the story are Tom and Linda Turner, and their swimming pool. In a nutshell, we spend three
summers with the pool, the first two of which could be regarded as the blissful paradise of the
suburbia, where the Turners enjoyed their marriage. Then, at the beginning of the third
summer, Linda packed up her things, took her children and left. Ted spent most of his days at
work in New York. At first, the pool was abandoned, but soon their neighbours started looking
after it. As time passed it attracted more and more visitors, even those who were not the
residents of the town. When Ted returned home with his mistress, he was indignant to find his
private pool to be public. Linda herself came back already divorced only in August and was
encountered by the deserted view of the pool. At the end of the story, a new family moved in
to the house and decided to seal the pool.
The story has quite a peculiar structure, it opens up from the very end, if to put the events into
a chronological order. In the first passage the author states the theme of his story. The author
introduces a case of an extended metaphor ‘Marriages, like chemical unions, release upon
dissolution packets of the energy locked up in their bonding’ in which we also deal with a
simile. The marriage itself is compared to a chemical union, applying thematic vocabulary such
as ‘dissolution’, ‘energy’, ‘bonding’ Updike gives us a hint that marriage is destined to end at
some point, if all of the energy is dissolved. This may be a reference to Linda’s putting up with
her husband’s infidelity, as we know she could not tolerate it anymore; or, perhaps, these
‘packets of energy’ refer to the level of love the spouses share. Updike highlights the lifeless
things and the way they are affected by the divorce, for instance, ‘piano’, ‘book shelves’, ‘skis’,
‘doll house’ etc., thus leading us to the main character of the story – the swimming pool. Here
we come across rhetorical questions ‘And what of those old skis in the attic? Or the doll house
waiting to be repaired in the basement?’ that create a dramatic effect and add to the
inevitability of the situation. At the same time, it may be observed as the form of the
communication with the readers, in order to emphasize the wrecking force of the divorce and
its being able to effect even lifeless things not to mention people.
Starting from the second passage the story might be regarded as a flashback. It covers the first
two summers of the family’s life, and there is a thorough description of the way it was created
‘one bulldozer sank into the mud and had to be pulled free by another. But by midsummer the
new grass was sprouting, the encircling flagstones were in place, the blue plastic tinted the
water a heavenly blue…’ in order to justify the personification mentioned previously ‘It was a
young pool, only two years old, of the fragile type fashioned’. This was done intentionally to put
into the foreground the pool itself. In the passage we get to be introduced to Linda and Ted.
There is a case of implication, if to look closer at Linda’s description ‘she was a fine-boned
blonde with dry blue eyes and lips usually held parted and crinkled as if about to ask a
worrisome, or whimsical, question’ suggesting that something is off. The epithet ‘dry’ may be a
hint to the fact that she wept. Furthermore, we should trace the link between the blue of her
eyes and the ‘heavenly blue’ of the pool. This is the peak of the couple’s happiness, the author
resorts to the cases of hyperbole ‘They never seemed happier, nor their marriage healthier’.
This effect is multiplied by the case of half-reported speech ‘What ecstasy!’
As the third summer begins the troubles come to the surface. Linda has lost some weight and
did not host the pool parties anymore. The suspense is maintained via several cases of epithets
‘they gave off the faint, sleepless, awkward-making aroma of a couple in trouble’. As soon as
Linda flees with the children there is a change in the description of the pool. There is a
metaphor ‘the cerulean pool grew cloudy’ that hints us to the seriousness of their marital
problems and the fact that this is just the beginning of the end. In the sentences ‘The pool
looked desolate and haunted, like a stagnant jungle spring; it looked poisonous and ashamed’
the author introduces several cases of epithets and a simile that can be viewed as his attempt
to personify the pool. The pool mirrors Linda’s state, as well as one of their family. Although it is
evident to the readers that divorce is inevitable (stuffing overdue notices and unanswered
solicitations into the mailbox) the postman ‘averts his eyes politely’ thus representing the
society’s attitude to such things. Divorce was frowned upon and people chose to ignore rather
than help.
In June Ted also experienced a change and eventually left which made the pool orphaned
indeed. The author applies a case of implication ‘he explained he would not be able to make it
out every weekend—as if the distance that for years he had travelled twice each day, gliding in
and out of New York, had become an impossibly steep climb back into the past’ that points out
there was no purpose for him to come back home again. Moreover, it may be a hint at his
cowardice, and inability to face the damage he has done and explain his actions. ‘Linda, he
confided vaguely, had left her parents in Akron and was visiting her sister in Minneapolis’, the
adverbial modifier ‘vaguely’ suggests that Ted is living in pretence. As for the pool, it is
described via the epithets ‘less haunted and forbidding’ in order to underline that like a child it
needed tending, and the assistance of the Murtaughs created an illusion of being part of a
family.
July marks the Renaissance of the pool. The imagery used in the first sentence ‘ July was the
hottest in twenty-seven years’ points out the reason for its popularity. The pool is an oasis that
attracts people in the dry desert. It literally goes through the revival phase, the author employs
cases of enumeration. There are plenty of things and people, and the pool is like mayhem. I
believe, the Updike deliberately enumerated first things, and then people, to draw a parallel
between them implying the visitors such as the Methodist bishop, etc. had no right to attend
the pool.
In August Ted has the audacity to return. However, he is not alone and the author applies an
implication (unwittingly glimpsed the root of the divorce). Despite the fact that it Ted’s infidelity
used to be obvious to the readers, now the spectators, in other words, their neighbours get to
solve the puzzle. The mistress is compared to Linda, which is a case of simile (of the same
physical type as Linda but brunette), implying that Ted has a type and probably misses his
family and wife. Nevertheless, the house does not accept this hostess and another case of
simile is applied ‘they lived like fugitives in a cave’ that creates a paradox since it is still Ted’s
house. Thus, the house becomes the symbol of their marriage and hints us to the following
conclusion. Once Linda and the children are gone, the house is no longer a home, it is just a
cold building left without a hearth. In addition, this passage concentrates on Ted’s inner self,
that is why we can notice a case of a half-reported speech ‘Her hair, he remembered, had
tickled his shoulders as she crouched behind him at the window, and through the angry
pounding of his own blood he had felt her slim body breathless with the attempt not to giggle’.
Now he finally understands the price he paid, but it is too late.
At the end of August Linda comes back already divorced. By stating that she went to Idaho the
author implies that it was one of the places where one party was enough to get the divorce.
Updike masterfully ties a string between Linda and the pool. There is no doubt that they mirror
one another. While in the description of the pool we come across such cases of imagery as
‘dead dragonflies, ‘small deluded toads swam around hopelessly’, ‘deserted pool’, she is
portrayed the following way ‘her lips looked drier and more quizzical than ever, still seeking to
frame that troubling question’. Again, the pool is personified and this time, taking into account
the bond between Linda and the pool, it tries to support her ‘the blue plastic beneath the
colorless water tried to make a cheerful, otherworldly statement’. There is one significant
metaphor, in particular, that frames the narration ‘the pool in truth had no bottom, it held
bottomless loss, it was one huge blue tear’, no wonder Linda had dry eyes, this pool
now was the embodiment of her failed marriage, the loss that will always haunt her
leaving a scar on her heart. Metaphorically, she considers herself as having been
drowned in the pool, since that all was a delusion, their attempt to make the things
work, it was all in vain. The nylon divider that ‘parted, and its two halves floated
independently’, symbolizes that now Ted and Linda had to get on with their lives
separately.
At the end of the story, a new family moves in, and the pool is presented in a
negative light. All of the devices indicate that the pool is dangerous and hostile once
having lost its family and has no future.