Deep Water

DEEP WATER
SUMMARY
The story has been taken from the author’s autobiography- ‘Of Men and Mountains’.
In this piece, he tells about his fear of water and how he conquered it by determination and
willpower.
As a child, when he was 3 or 4 years old, he would go to the beach in California with his father. He
would get scared by the might of the huge waves which swept over him and it instilled fear in his
subconscious mind.
A few years later, in his eagerness to learn swimming, he joined a swimming pool where an incident
further increased his terror. He was pushed into the pool by another boy and experienced death
closely.
Many years after that incident, he stayed away from water but the desire to go fishing and swimming
in nature was strong enough to motivate him to overcome his fear.
He learned swimming with the help of an instructor who ensured that William knew swimming well
enough to be able to swim in huge lakes and waterfalls also.
Still, when he would swim, the fear from his childhood experiences, embedded in his subconscious
mind would grip him over and over again. He wanted to conquer that fear.
He faced it sarcastically, thinking that now, as he knew how to swim, what harm could it do to him.
He challenged his fear in the face of it and finally, it would vanish.
It was a baseless fear instilled in his subconscious mind. This experience was valuable for him. He
had experienced terror and death. He overcame it and finally conquered it.
William realized that death is peaceful and it is the fear of death that is terrorizing. His will to live life
grew intensely as he had overcome his fear and started living fearlessly.
THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What is the “misadventure ” that William Douglas speaks about?
Ans. William O. Douglas had just learnt swimming. One day, an eighteen year old big
bruiser picked him up and tossed him into the nine feet deep end of the Y.M.C.A. pool.
He hit the water surface in a sitting position. He swallowed water and went at once to
the bottom. He nearly died in this misadventure.
Q2. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when
he was thrown into the pool? What plans did he make to come to the surface?
Ans. Douglas was frightened when he was thrown into the pool. However, he was not
frightened out of his wits. While sinking down he made a plan. He would make a big
jump when his feet hit the bottom. He would come to the surface like a cork, lie flat on it,
and paddle to the edge of the pool.
Q3. How did this experience affect him?
Ans. This experience revived his aversion to water. He shook and cried when he lay on
his bed. He couldn’t eat that night. For many days, there was a haunting fear in his
heart. The slightest exertion upset him, making him wobbly in the knees and sick to his
stomach. He never went back to the pool. He feared water and avoided it whenever he
could.
THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
Ans. His fear of water ruined his fishing trips. It deprived him of the joy of canoeing,
boating, and swimming. Douglas used every way he knew to overcome this fear he had
developed ’since childhood. Even as an adult, it held him firmly in its grip. He
determined to get an instructor and learn swimming to get over this fear of water.
Q2. How did the instructor “build a swimmer” out of Douglas?

Ans. The instructor built a swimmer out of Douglas piece by piece. For three months he
held him high on a rope attached to his belt. He went back and forth across the pool.
Panic seized the author everytime. The instructor taught Douglas to put his face under
water and exhale and to raise his nose and inhale. Then Douglas had to kick with his
legs for many weeks till these relaxed. After seven months the instructor told him to
swim the length of the pool.
Q3. How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
Ans. Douglas still felt terror-stricken when he was alone in the pool. The remnants of
the old terror would return, but he would rebuke it and go for another length of the pool.
He was still not satisfied. So, he went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived off a
dock at Triggs Island and swam two miles across the lake. He had his residual doubts.
So, he went to Meade Glacier, dived into Warm Lake and swam across to the other
shore and back.Thus, he made sure that he had conquered the old terror.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Q1. How does Douglas make clear to the reader the sense of panic that gripped
him as he almost drowned? Describe the details that have made the description
vivid.
Ans. Douglas gives a detailed account of his feelings and efforts to save himself from
getting drowned. He uses literary devices to make the description graphic and vivid. For
example,
‘Those nine feet were more like ninety’, ‘My lungs were ready to burst.’ ‘I came up
slowly,
I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water….. I grew panicky1 ‘I was suffocating. I
tried to yell, but no sound came out!’ ‘
Q2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?

Ans. When Douglas grew up, he took the help of an instructor to learn swimming. His
training went on from October to April. For three months he was taken across the pool
with the help of a rope. As he went under, terror filled him and his legs froze. The
instructor taught him to exhale under water and inhale through raised nose. He made
him kick his legs to make them relax. Then he asked him to swim. He continued
swimming from April to July. Still all terror had not left. He swam two miles across Lake
Wentworth and the whole length to the shore and back of Warm Lake. Then he
overcame his fear of water.
Q3. Why does Douglas as an adult recount a childhood experience of terror and
his conquering of it? What larger meaning does he draw from this experience?
Ans. The experience of terror was a handicap Douglas suffered from during his
childhood. His conquering of it shows his determination, will power and development of
his personality.
He drew a larger meaning from this experience. “In death there is peace.” “There is
terror only in the fear of death.” He had experienced both the sensation of dying and the
terror that fear of it can produce. So, the will to live somehow grew in intensity. He felt
released- free to walk the mountain paths, climb the peaks and brush aside fear.
TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

Q1.“All ice have to fear is fear itself” Have you ever had a fear that you have now
overcome? Share your experience with your partner.
Ans. I must have been about eight or nine years old. It was the night of Diwali. All the
houses were shining bright with the rows of candles, oil lamps and electric bulbs.
Children were bursting crackers. Suddenly, a cracker went up and hit the thatched roof
of a poor gardener. Soon the hut was in flames. His only son, a tiny infant had severe
burns before he could be rescued. I began to tremble with fear as the police questioned
the boys exploding crackers. From then on I had a fear of crackers, fire and police. My
parents and I had to work very hard to remove this blemish. It was adversely affecting
my personality. By learning the safeguards against fire and safe handling of crackers, I
gradually overcame my fear. However, I still get panicked at the sight of a policeman in
uniform. The fear of police remained now; My uncle came to my rescue. He got me
dressed as a police inspector in one of his plays, I commanded many policemen and
scolded them for misbehaving with the common people. I learnt that policemen were
also humans and not demons. Police protect and help us to maintain law and order.
Thank God, I have overcome all my fears now.
Q2. Find and narrate other stories about conquest of fear and what people have
said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson Mandela’s struggle for
freedom, his perseverance to achieve his mission, to liberate the oppressed and
the oppressor as depicted in his autobiography. The story ‘We’re Not Afraid To
Die,’ which you have read in Class XI, is an apt example of how courage and
optimism helped a family survive under the direst stress.
Ans. In his autobiography ‘Long Walk to Freedom’, Nelson Mandela tells the
extraordinary story of his life. He brings vividly to life the escalating political warfare in
the fifties between the African National Congress and the government, culminating in
his dramatic escapades as an underground leader and the notorious Rivonia Trial of
1964, at which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He recounts the surprisingly
eventful twenty-seven years in prison and the complex, delicate negotiations that led
both to his freedom and to the beginning of the end of apartheid. Mandela also
struggled against the exploitation of labour and on the segregation of the universities.
He persevered to achieve his mission and to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor.
In 1990, he was freed from prison. The apartheid laws were relaxed. Mandela became
the champion for human rights and racial equality. He also became the first non-white
president of the Republic of South Africa.

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DEEP WATER

THINK AS YOU READ

THINK AS YOU READ

Q2. How did the instructor “build a swimmer” out of Douglas?

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Q2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?

TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

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