Deep Water

William Douglas

Theme- To overcome fear through courage, determination, and self-confidence.

Questions & Answers-

1. What is the "misadventure" that William Douglas speaks about?
Ans. William [Link] 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 dies in this misadventure.
2. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was
throws into the pool? What plans did he make to come 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.
3. How did this experience affect him?
Ans. The near-death experience of drowning had a very strong impact on his psychology. He
was deeply perturbed and shaken by the whole experience. A haunting fear of water took
control of his physical strength and emotional balance for many years. As he couldn't bear
being surrounded by water, he was deprived of enjoying any water-related activity.
4. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
Ans. Douglas regretted being deprived of enjoying water activities like canoeing, boating,
swimming, fishing, etc. The wish to enjoy them and the craving to regain his lost confidence,
while being in water, made him try every possible way to get rid of his fear. He was finally able
to overcome this mental handicap by getting himself a swimming instructor and further
ensuring that no residual fear was left.
5. How did the instructor "build a swimmer" out of Douglas?
Ans. The instructor built a swimmer out of Douglas bit by bit. 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 every time. 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 they
relaxed. After seven months, the instructor told him to swim the length of the pool.
6. How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
Ans. Even after the swimming training was over, Douglas wasn't confident about his swimming
or that he had overcome the fear. He was determined to completely get rid of it forever. He
swam alone in the pool. He went to Lake Wentworth to dive. There, he tried every possible
stroke he had learnt. He fought back the tiny vestiges of terror that gripped him in middle of
the lake. Finally, in his diving expedition in the Warm Lake, he realised that he had truly
conquered his old terror.
7. 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. Once Douglas was sitting alone at the Y.M.C.A pool waiting for others to come. Then
there came a big bruiser of a boy. He tossed him up and threw him into the deep end of the
pool. Douglas went deep and swallowed water. He was in the sitting position at the bottom. He
was frightened but was not out of his wits. On the way down, he had a strategy in his mind.
When his feet touched the bottom, he would make a great spring upward. Then he would paddle
to the edge of the pool, but he came up slowly. He opened his eyes and saw dirty water. He was
deeply frightened. His legs seemed paralysed. A great force was pulling him down. A stark
power overpowered him. He shrieked in the water but only the water heard him. After feeling
the tiles under his feet for the second time, he jumped with all his might but it made no
difference. His lungs ached and heart throbbed. Stark terror took him in its grip. His legs and
arms could not move. He again tried for the third time. He searched for air but swallowed water.
He felt drowsy and ceased all efforts. He reached oblivion. The curtain of his life fell and he
lay unconscious.
8. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
Ans. After his misadventure in the pool at the Y.M.C.A. Douglas was afraid of water. He
realised that his fishing trips, canoeing, swimming and boating were over. He tried his best to
overcome it but water haunted him everywhere. Finally, he decided to engage an instructor to
learn to swim and overcome his fear. He went to the pool and practiced five days a week, an
hour each day. The instructor put a belt around him and a rope was attached to the belt. The
rope went through a pulley that ran an overhead cable. Douglas held one end of the rope and
went back and forth across the pool. On each trip, some of the terror would seize him up. After
three months, the tension began to decrease.
Bit by bit he shed the panic. The instructor taught him to put his face underwater and exhale.
He also taught him how to raise his nose and inhale. This exercise was repeated hundreds of
times. Now he was able to shed part of the fear that seized him under water. He went to Lake
Wentworth, Triggs Island and Stamp Act Island. He swam two miles across the lake. Now he
was determined and he swam on. He shouted with joy as he had conquered his fear of water.
9. Why does Douglas as an adult recount a childhood experience of terror and his
conquering of it? What larger meaning does he draw from his experience?
Ans. Douglas had two childhood experiences of terror. One at the California beach, when the
waves knocked him down and swept over him. He was terror-stricken. At the other occasion
he was thrown into the deep end of the Y.M.C.A pool by a big bruiser of a boy. A stark terror
overpowered and gripped him. It followed and haunted him wherever he went. He realised that
his joys of fishing, canoeing, boating and swimming had been ruined. Keeping in view its
severe consequences, he engaged an instructor who trained him in swimming and Douglas was
able to conquer his fear. This experience had a deeper meaning for Douglas. Because he had
experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that the fear it can produce, he learnt the
will to live in great intensity. This experience can only be realised by those who had faced to
conquer it. This exactly happened with Douglas. He knew that in death, there is peace, there is
terror only in the fear of death. Thus, one can estimate what matters is the will to live. As
Roosevelt said "All we have to fear is fear itself" So, the will to live is great and it can take a
man to the highest peaks of life.