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Deep Water - Notes & Questions

In 'Deep Water,' William O. Douglas recounts his childhood fear of water stemming from a traumatic incident at the beach, which led him to avoid swimming. After a near-drowning experience at the Y.M.C.A pool, he hired an instructor and gradually overcame his fear through determination and practice. Ultimately, Douglas learns that the will to live can conquer the fear of death, highlighting the importance of facing one's fears.

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6 views2 pages

Deep Water - Notes & Questions

In 'Deep Water,' William O. Douglas recounts his childhood fear of water stemming from a traumatic incident at the beach, which led him to avoid swimming. After a near-drowning experience at the Y.M.C.A pool, he hired an instructor and gradually overcame his fear through determination and practice. Ultimately, Douglas learns that the will to live can conquer the fear of death, highlighting the importance of facing one's fears.

Uploaded by

pramodking128
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Chapter 3 (Flamingo)

DEEP WATER
WILLIAM DOUGLAS

Theme:
In this essay William O. Douglas talks about his fear of water and how he finally
overcomes it by his courage, determination, handwork, strong will power, perseverance
and the desire to learn. If these are practiced we can definitely achieve success in all our
endeavors.

Gist of the lesson:


 W i l l i a m O. Douglas had a desire to learn swimming since childhood.
 A t the age of three or four, he was knocked down and buried by a wave at a beach in
California.
 He developed a great aversion to water.
 At the age of ten or eleven he decided to learn to swim with water wings at the Y.M.C.A
pool since it was safe at the shallow end.
 A misadventure:- while sitting alone and waiting for others to come at the Y.M.C.A pool,
a big boy came and threw Douglas into deep end of the pool.
 Douglas swallowed water and went straight down to the bottom of the pool.
 While going down he planned to make a big jump upwards but came up slowly.
 Stark terror seized him.
 Tried to shout but could not……
 As he went down the pool second time, he tried to jump upwards but it was a waste of
energy.
 Terror held him deeper and deeper.
 During the third trial he sucked water instead of air.
 Light was going out and there was no more panic.
 So he ceased all efforts and he became unconscious.
 He crossed to oblivion.
 When revived he found himself vomiting beside the pool.
 He was in grip of fear of water and it deprived him of the joys of canoeing, boating
swimming and fishing.
 Hired an instructor to learn swimming.
 The instructor taught him swimming piece by piece.
 He went to different lakes to swim and found tiny vestiges of fear still gripped him.
 He challenged the fear and swam.
 Swimming up and down the Warm Lake he finally overcame his fear of water.
 He realized that in death there is peace and there is terror only in fear of death.
 Will to live is stronger than fear of death.

Focus Area:
1. Psychological Analysis of Fear
2. Real Life – Personal Account
1
3. Effect of Fear
4. Douglas’s determination to fight the fear
5. Final Result

Short Answer Questions: (30 – 40 words)

1. Why did mother warn Douglas against River Yakima?


2. What impact did the incident at California beach have on him?
3. What made him decide that the instructor’s role in teaching him swimming was over?
4. Why did Douglas go to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire? How did he make his
terror flee?
5. What larger meaning did the experience have on him?
6. How did he interpret Roosevelt’s saying?

Long Answer Questions( 125-150 words)

1. What is the ‘misadventure’ that William Douglas speaks about? What were the series of
emotions experienced when he was thrown into the pool? What plans did he make to
come to the surface?
2. How did the instructor build a swimmer out of Douglas?
3. Do you think the title ‘Deep Water’ is appropriate to the story? Why/why
not?

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