Deep Water
Question Answers
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.
A. William describes his experience where he had a close brush with death at the Y.M.C.A. Swimming pool. As it a first-person account, he has described it deeply. The emotional, mental and physical struggle and the paralyzing fear of drowning have been discussed in detail.
William retained his intelligence and had a plan to come to the surface. He tried it but I did not work and after a few trials to save his life, death dawned upon him. All these details make the description vivid.
Q2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
A. William Douglas was not able to come out of his fear. So, he hired a swimming instructor. Once he had learned swimming, he wanted to check if he had overcome the fear as well. He would swim in lakes and found the fear to return in small phases. William was no longer scared as he knew that he could swim. Hence, he overcame the fear.
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?
A. William Douglas gives a detailed description of his childhood experience so that the reader gets familiar with the kind of fear that he had as a child.
When he quotes Roosevelt ““All we have to fear is fear itself” he tries to draw a larger meaning from this experience. He wants to highlight the fact that life became meaningful and the desire to live grew intense once he had conquered his fear.
Q1: Answer the following question in 120 – 150 words:
How did Douglas develop an aversion to water?
OR
Q2: Answer the following question in 120 – 150 words:
What happened at the YMCA swimming pool which instilled fear of water in Douglas’ mind?
A: Since the age of three or four, when the author accompanied his father to the beach, he realized that he disliked water. He would get frightened by the power of the waves which threw him, swept over and he was buried in water.
Later, at the age of ten – eleven years, he decided to learn swimming. He joined swimming classes at a swimming pool at the Y.M.C.A. He felt that the swimming pool was safe. Also, the pair of water wings would help him stay on the surface but more, they instilled a sense of confidence in him. It was just when he had started feeling comfortable that an incident took place. A big boy picked up the author and threw him in the pool at the deep end. He got water in his mouth and sank to the bottom. He was frightened but kept his mind working and devised a way out but things did not turn out as planned. His lungs felt as if they would burst, he was overpowered by fear, reached out, as if to grab something, but could only get his hands on the water. He got suffocated due to lack of air, could not scream, moved his arms desperately but all his efforts failed and he once again sank to the bottom of the pool. An unexplainable terror seized him. His limbs were lifeless, rigid due to fear and he could not even scream, the only sign of life was his heart beat. He sucked in water and then suddenly all his efforts to save himself stopped. He was relaxed, peaceful, fearless and sleepy, almost dead.
It was due to these experiences that the author developed an aversion to water.
Q3: Answer in 30 – 40 words:
How did the instructor turn Douglas into a swimmer?
A: The instructor made him practice swimming step by step and gradually, piece by piece, turned him into a swimmer. When he had perfected each piece, he put them together into an integrated whole.
Q4: Answer the following question in 120 – 150 words:
Describe the efforts made by Douglas to overcome his fear of water.
A: Douglas was in the tight grip of a fear of swimming in water bodies and finally decided to get rid of it. He hired an instructor who taught him swimming piece by piece and when he had learnt it all, he combined all the pieces together and made Douglas a swimmer. Still, he was not confident, and the terror would seize him time and again. Douglas wanted to get rid of all the fear, he wanted to conquer it. So, he went to various lakes, dived and swam across them. He reverted sarcastically to the tiny vestiges of fear that would grip him time and again until all of it vanished away. Douglas realized that fear was merely a crop of the mind and once he had conquered it, he felt released, free to walk arduous terrains, climb peaks and brush aside fear. Douglas had faced stark terror and then by conquering it his desire to live life grew intensely.
Q5: Answer the following question in 30 – 40 words:
How did his experience at the YMCA swimming pool affect Douglas?
A: Douglas’ experience of drowning and almost being dead instilled a fear of water in him. He shook and cried, couldn’t eat, for days a haunting fear engulfed him, the slightest exertion upset him. He never went back to the pool, feared water and avoided it whenever he could.
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