Deep Water

Question 1.
When did the author decide to learn swimming? Why did he join YMCA pool?
Answer:
The author decided to learn swimming at the age of ten or eleven years. There was a
pool at the YMCA that offered that opportunity. The YMCA pool was quite safe. It was
only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and while it was nine feet deep at the
other, the drop was gradual.

Question 2.
What did the author do to learn swimming at the YMCA pool?
Answer:
The author got a pair of water wings and went to the pool. He paddled with his new
water wings, watching the other boys and trying to learn aping them. He did this two or
three times on different times on different days and was beginning to feel at ease.

Question 3.
Why did Douglas’ mother recommend that he should learn swimming at the YMCA
pool?
Answer:
The author wanted to learn swimming when he was ten or eleven years old. The river
Yakima was dangerous. The author’s mother continually warned him against it and kept
on telling him the incidents of drowning in it. But the YMCA pool was quite safe.
Therefore she recommended YMCA pool to learn swimming.

Question 4.
Describe the author’s childhood experience when he was three or four years old?
Answer:
The author had an aversion to the water when he was three or four years old. His father
took him to a beach in California. His father and he was standing together in the surf.
Suddenly the waves knocked him down and swept over him. He was buried in the water.
His breath was gone. This caused a terror in his mind of water.

Question 5.
What happened one day when the author was sitting alone beside the pool?
Answer:
One day the author went to the pool when no one was there. He was timid about going
in the pool alone. So he sat on the side of the pool to wait for others. An eighteen year
old boy came there and tossed the author into the pool thinking that the author might
knew swimming.
Question 6.
How did the big boy throw the author into the pool?
Answer:
The big boy was about eighteen years old. He was a kind of bruiser. He yelled, ‘ Hi,
Skinny! How’d you like to be ducked?’ With that he picked the author up and tossed him
into the deep end. However, he later said that he was just fooling.

Question 7.
Describe the appearance of the big boy who tossed the author into the pool?
Answer:
The boy who tossed the author was about eighteen years old. He was a kind of bruiser.
He had thick hair on his chest. He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs and
arms that showed rippling muscles.

Question 8.
What deep meaning did his experience at the YMCA pool have for Douglas?
Answer:
His experience had a deep meaning for him. The author said that who had known stark
fear and conquered it could appreciate it. In death, there is peace. There is terror only in
the fear of death. The author concludes saying that all we need is to fear itself.

Question 9.
How did Douglas’ introduction to the YMCA pool revive his childhood fear of water?
Answer:
Douglas had aversion for water since his early child¬hood. However, he decided to learn
swimming at the age of ten or eleven. But one day he was sitting alone beside the pool.
He was sitting for others to come. An eighteen year old boy came there and tossed the
author into the pool. He was saved with great difficulty from being drowned. In this way,
the introduction to the YMCA pool reinforced the author’s childhood fear of water.

Question 10.
What did Douglas feel and do when he was pushed into the swimming water?
Answer:
When Douglas was tossed into the water he was frightened but not much. He thought
that when he reached the bottom he would make a big jump. Then he would, come to
the surface like a cork. It seemed a long way down. He reached the bottom very slow. It
appeared to him that those nine feet were like ninety feet, He felt that his lungs would
burst.. He came up very slowly. He grew panicky. He thought he would not survive. This
thought gave him peace.

Question 11.
How did Douglas’ experience at the YMCA pool affect him?
Answer:
Douglas was saved from drowning. When he came to his senses, he found that he was
lying on his stomach beside the pool and he was vomitiftg. After hours later the author
walked to his home. He was feeling very weak. He could neither eat nor sleep that night.
He never went to the pool again. He avoided it whenever he could.

Question 12.
Why did the author go to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire?
Answer:
The author had learnt swimming from a very capable instructor. But the author wanted
to conquer ‘ his fear of water completely. Therefore, he went to Lake Went worth in New
Hampshire. He swam across the lake. Only once did his old fear of water return.
However he brushed this thought of fear aside and swam across the lake.

Question 13.
How do you think was Douglas rescued when he was about to be drowned?
Answer:
A big boy threw Douglas into the pool thinking that he knew swimming. But Douglas
didn’t know swimming. He was about to be drowned. He lost his senses. When he
regained consciousness, he found himself lying beside the pool. Naturally someone
saved him who was present there. Most probably, it might be the big boy who threw him
into the pool.

Question 14.
Why did Douglas decide to overcome his fear of water?
Answer:
Due to his fear of water, Douglas couldn’t enjoy any of the water-related activities. It
ruined his fishing plans and his joy of boating or canoeing. Therefore he decided to
overcome his fear of water.

Question 15.
What sort of terror seized Douglas as he went down the water with a yellow glow? How
could he feel that he was still alive?
Answer:
It was. a kind of terror that the person who had experienced could understand. Douglas
was about to be drowned in the water. He was crying. He was stiff with fear. Even the
cries in his throat were frozen. Only his heart said that he was alive.

Question 16.
The author says, “The instructor was finished. But I was not finished.” Why?
Answer:
The instructor was a very experienced trainer. He trained the author step by step. After
about two months of training, he told the author that he now knew everything about
swimming. However the author was yet not satisfied. He himself wanted to become
assure that he had overcome his fear of water. Therefore the author said that the
instructor was finished but not was he.

Question 17.
How did this experience affect him?
Answer:
This experience had a great effect on the author. He never went to the pool again. He
feared water. He avoided it whenever possible. It ruined his fishing trips and also
deprived him of the joy of canoeing, boating and swimming.

Question 18.
Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
Answer:
The fear of water ruined Douglas’ all fishing trips and also deprived him of the joy of
canoeing, boating and swimming. Therefore, Douglas decided to get over his fear of
water.

Deep Water Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type

Question 1.
Where did the author decide to learn swimming and why? What did he get to learn
swimming?
Answer:
When the author was ten or eleven years old, he decided to learn swimming. There was
a pool at the YMCA in Yakima that offered exactly swimming opportunity. The river
Yakima was dangerous and many incidents of drowning used to happen there. Thus the
author’s mother desist him to go and learn swimming there.

But the YMCA pool was safe. It was only two or three feet at the shallow end; and while
it was nine feet deep at the other. The drop was gradual. The author got a pair of water
wings and went to the pool. The author paddled with his new water wings, watching the
other and trying to learn by imitating them. He did this two or three times on different
days and started to feel at ease in the water.

Question 2.
Roosevelt said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Do you agree? Why/why not?
Answer:
Once the American President Roosevelt had said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” This
quote by the President is absolutely right. Almost all great per¬sons believe in this.
Mahatma Gandhi had similar views. That was why he was not afraid of the British
tyrannical power. In this text the author was about to be drowned.
He became quite afraid when he thought he would not survive. He tried his best to safe
himself for drowning but all in vain. Then he accepted his fate. Now he felt at peace.
And he was ready to welcome death calmly. However he was saved from being
drowned. After that, he decided to overcome his fear of water. He did this with the help
of a very capable instructor.

The author’s experience about his misadventure with water had a very deep meaning for
him. According to him only those who had known stark terror and conquered it could
appreciate it. He said in death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death.

Question 3.
Desire, determination and diligence lead to ‘ success. Explain the value of these
qualities in the light of Douglas’ experience in ‘Deep Water’?
Answer:
The author had childhood fear of water. When he was just four years old, he was
knocked down by the sea waves. This experience caused in him an aversion for water.
When he was ten or eleven years old he was nearly drowned in the YMCA pool. His life
was saved with great difficulty. Thus, he started avoiding water. It resulted in ruining all
his water- related activities viz fishing, boating and canoeing.

The author decided to overcome or fight this fear. He took the help of a very capable
instructor. The instructor perfected the author in the art of swimming in about two
months. Though the instructor was finished yet not the author. When he swam the
length and breadth of the pool, the old memories of terror would return.

One day,the author went to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire. He swam two miles
across the lake. Only once did the old terror returned to him. Once the author went
across the Warm Lake. He dived into the lake next morning. He swam across to the
other shore. The author shouted with joy. He had conquered his old fer of water. It was
the result of sheer determination and diligence on part of the author that he was able to
overcome his fear of water.

Question 4.
How did the instructor make Douglas a good swimmer?
Answer:
Douglas wanted to overcome his fear of water. He got an instructor to teach him
swimming. He went 1 to the pool for five days a week, an hours each day. The instructor
put a belt around him. A rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an
overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope, and went back and forth, across the
pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. On each trip across the pool a bit
of his panic seized him.
Each time the instructor relaxed his hold on the rope and the author went under water,
some of the old terror returned and his legs froze. After three months, the instructor
taught him to put his face under water and exhale, and to raise his nose and inhale. He
repeated this exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit, the author shed the part of the
panic that seized him when his head went under water.

Next, the instructor held the author at the side of the pool and had him kick with his
legs. At first, it was quite difficult for the author but gradually he was able to command
his legs. Thus, piece by piece the instructor made Douglas a good swimmer.

Question 5.
Which two incidents in Douglas’ early life made him scared of water?
Answer:
There happened two incidents in Douglas’ life that made him scared of water. The first
incident occurred when the author was just three or four years old and his father took
him to the beach in California. He and his father stood together in the surf. The waves
knocked him down and swept over him. He was buried in water. His breath was gone.
He was frightened.

However the author decided to learn swimming. He joined the YMCA pool. One day
there was nobody at the pool. He was waiting for others to come. An eighteen year old
boy came there and tossed the author into the pool. He was saved with great difficulty
from being drowned. In this way that second incident reinforced the author’s fear of
water.

Question 6.
A big boy threw Douglas Into the swimming pool. How did this experience affect
Douglas?
Answer:
Douglas was sitting atone beside the pool. didn’t want to go into the pool alone. A big
boy came there and tossed the author into the pool. Douglas was saved from drowning
with great effort. When he came to his senses, he found that he was lying on his
stomach beside the pool and he was vomiting. After hours later the author walked to his
home he was feeling very weak. He could neither eat nor sleep that night. He never went
to the pool again.

The author would also avoid any water-related activities. This ruined all his fishing trips,
his boating or canoeing activities. In the end the author decided to engage a very
capable instructor to teach him swimming. And in the span of two months the author
became a good swimmer.
Question 7.
Justify the title ‘Deep Water’.
Answer:
This story is about a deep and profound meaning of life. That meaning can be summed
up in the author’s statement that there is no fear in death; there is fear .in fear itself. One
has to kill that fear in oneself if one wants to enjoy a fuller and meaningful life. The
author had a great fear of water.

A couple of his childhood experiences had caused that fear in himself. But with the help
of an instructor he was able to overcome this fear. He shouted in joy when he realised
that he had overcome his fear of water.

The author had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it can
produce. The author learned a very profound and deep meaning of life. He realised that
there is no fear in death. The fear is in fear itself. One has to overcome this fear. Thus to
conclude with we can say that the title of the story is quite apt.

Question 8.
What is the misadventure that William Douglas speaks about?
Answer:
The author William Douglas joined YMCA pool to learn swimming. One day he was
sitting alone on the side of the pool. He was afraid to go inside the pool without
anyone’s presence. So, he decided to wait for others. There came a boy of about
eighteen. He was a kind of bruiser. He yelled, ‘ Hi skinny! How’d you like to be ducked?
He picked the author and threw him into the water. The author at once went to the
bottom of the pool.

The author was frightened but not much. He imagined that he would bob to the surface
like a cork. Instead he came very slowly. He could see nobody. The author grew very
panicky. He tried to jump upwards twice but all proved futile. At last, he stopped all is
efforts. He relaxed. Even his legs felt limp. But he was taken out of the water before he
was dead. He walked to his house several hours later.

Question 9.
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?
Answer:
The author was not frightened much in the begining. He thought that his feet would
touch the bot-tom and he would come to the surface like a cork. But instead, he came to
the surface very slow. The depth of nine feet appeared ninety feet to him. He grew
panicky. He was suffocating. He called for help but no one was there to help him. When
he came to the surface, he started going down again. This thing happened three times.
Then he stopped all his efforts. He was sure that he was not going to Survive. This
thought gave him peace. He relaxed. Now he was no more panic. Everything blanked
out. The curtain of life fell. Next he remembered he was lying beside the pool. In this
way, the author was saved from his dying. The author experienced near death
experience.

Question 10.
How did the instructor ‘build a swimmer’ out of Douglas?
Answer:
Douglas wanted to overcome his fear of water. He got an instructor to teach him
swimming. He went to the pool for five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor
put a belt around him. A rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an
overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope, and went back and forth, across the
pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. On each trip across the pool, a bit
of his panic seized him.

Each time the instructor relaxed his hold on the rope and the author went under the
water, some of the old terror returned and his legs froze.

After three months, the instructor taught him to put his face under water and exhale,
and to raise his nose and inhale. He repeated this exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit
the author shed the part of the panic that seized him when his head went under water.
Next the instructor held the author at the side of the pool and had him kick with his legs.
At first it was quite difficult for the author but gradually he was able to command his
legs. Thus, piece by piece the instructor build a swimmer out of Douglas.

Question 11.
How did Douglas make sure that he had conquered the old terror?
Answer:
The author learnt swimming from an expert instructor. Finally, the instructor told him
that he had learnt swimming. The instructor was finished but not the author. When he
swam the length and breadth of the pool, the old memories of terror would return. One
day, the author went to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire.

He swam two miles across the lake. Only once did the old terror returned to him. Once
the author went across the Warm Lake. He dived into the lake next morning. He swam
across to the other shore. The author shouted with joy. He had conquered his old fear of
water.

Question 12.
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.
Answer:
In this extract, the author vividly describes his experience when he was almost drowned
and also when he was saved. The author decided to learn swimming at the YMCA pool.
One day a misadventure happened with the author. An eighteen year old boy tossed the
author into the pool thinking that the author might know how to swim. But the author
didn’t know swimming at all. The author landed in a sitting position. He was frightened
but not much. He thought that when he reached the bottom he would make a big jump.
Then he would come to the surface like a cork.

It seemed a long way down. He reached the bottom very slow. It appeared to the
narrator that those nine feet were like ninety feet. The narrator felt that his lungs would
burst. He came up very slowly. He grew panicky. He thought he would not survive. This
thought gave him peace. He closed his eyes. He became unconscious. The next he
remembered he was lying on his stomach beside the pool and he was vomiting.

The boy who had thrown him inside the pool said that he was just fooling. After hours
later the author walked to his home feeling very weak. He could neither eat nor sleep
that night. He never went to the pool again. He avoided it whenever he could.

Question 13.
How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
Answer:
The author, Douglas,-had great fear of water. In order to get over this fear he decided to
take training from an expert instructor. After two months the instructor told him that
now he could swim without any fear. Though the instructor was finished yet not the
author. When he swam the length and breadth of the pool, the old memories of terror
would return.

One day the author went to Lake Went worth in New Hampshire. He swam two miles
across the lake. Only once did the old terror returned to him. Once the author went
across the Warm Lake. He dived into the lake next morning. He swam across to the
other shore. The author shouted with joy. He had conquered his old fear of water.

Question 14.
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?
Answer:
The author had an aversion to water from his early childhood. When he was three or
four years old he was knocked by water waves on a beach. One day he was saved with
great difficulty from being drowned. But the author decided to overcome his fear of
water.
With the help of an instructor he was able to overcome this fear, His experience had a
deep meaning for him. The author said that who had known stark fear and conquered it
could appreciate it. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death. The
author concludes saying that all we need is to fear itself.

(Para-1)

My introduction to the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool revived unpleasant memories and

Questions :
(a) What does Y.M.C.A. stand for ?
(b) What are narrator’s unpleasant memories and child ish fears ?
(c) After gathering confidence, what did the narrator do ?
(d) What was the misadventure, narrator faced ?
Answers :
(a) Y.M.C.A. stands for “Young Men’s Christian Association’.
(b) Narrators unpleasant memories and childish fears were the moments of his
childhood when he was drowned by the powerful waves at the beach of California.
(c) After gathering confidence, the narrator paddled with his new little wings, watching
the other boys and trying to learn by aping them.
(d) Narrator faced the misadventure of drowning into the swimming pool when a big
bruiser of a boy threw him into the pool just for fun.

(Para-2)

It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more like ninety, and before I touched
bottom my lungs were ready to burst. But when my feet hit bottom I summoned all my
strength and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. I imagined I would bob
to the surface like a cork. Instead, I came up slowly. I opened my eyes and saw nothing
but water – water that had a dirty yellow tinge to it. I grew panicky. I reached up as if to
grab a rope and my hands clutched only at water. I was suffocating. I tried to yell but no
sound came out. Then my eyes and nose came out of the water but not my mouth.

Questions :
(a) Nine feet were more than ninety, why ?
(b) What did the narrator do when he reached to the bot-tom ?
(c) What happened when he came upwards ?
(d) What did he try when came outside the water first ?
Answers :
(a) Nine feet were more than ninety because the narrator didn’t know swimming and it
was his first experience into the router.
(b) The narrator when reached to the bottom shrouded all his strength and made a great
spring upwards, but all in vain.
(c) Though he imagined that he would bob to the surface lice a cork but he came up
storoly, saw nothing but water-water with a dirty yellow tinge everywhere.
(d) After outside the water first, he grow panicky tried to grab a rope but clutched only at
water, tried to yell but no sound out.

(Para-3)

And then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that knows no understanding, terror that
knows no control, terror that no one can understand who has not experienced it. I was
shrieking under water. I was paralysed under water—stiff, rigid with fear. Even the
screams in my throat were frozen. Only my heart and the pounding in my head, said that
I was still alive.
Questions :
(a) What do you understand by sheer, stark terror ?
(b) Why and how the writer was paralysed ?
(c) How did the narrator come to know that he was alive ?
(d) Name the chapter and it’s writer.
Answers :
(a) Sheer, stark terror here signifies that a terror that is straight, complete and
absolutely violent. A terror that can’t be overcome easily.
(b) The writer was paralysed because he was under water as he was thrown by a big
boy and nearly drowning and due to fear he was unable to even move his legs and
hands.
(c) Feeling the fast heart beats and only the pounding in his head, made him realize that
he was still alive.
(d) The chapter’s name is ‘Deep Water’ written by William Douglas.

(Para-4)

The next I remember I was lying on my stomach be-side the pool, vomiting. The chap
that threw me in was saying, “But I was only fooling”. Someone said, “The kid nearly
died. Be all right now. Let’s carry him to the locker room.”
Several hours later, I walked home. I was weak and trembling. I shook and cried when I
lay on my bed. I couldn’t eat that night. For days a haunting fear was in my heart. The
slightest exertion upset me, making me wobbly in the knees and sick to my stomach. I
never went back to the pool. I feared water, I avoided it whenever I could.
Questions :
(a) What was the chap’s reaction on his deed ?
(b) Why, when laying on the bed, narrator cried ?
(c) What physical problems did he face after recovery ?
(d) How did he take that incident ?
Answers:
(a) The chap who threw him in was simply saying, “But I was only fooling”. He was very
normal and taking that fatal incident so ordinarily.
(b) When laying on the bed, narrator cried because he was very weak, trembling and
having an intense pain in his stomach.
(c) After recovery, he felt very weak, couldn’t stand as he was trembling, couldn’t eat the
food, even the slightest exertion upset him, making him wobbly in the knees and sick to
his stomach.
(d) After that incident, he never went back to the pool, he feared water and avoided it
whenever he could.

(Para-5)

The experience had a deep meaning for me, as only those who have known stark terror
and conquered it can appreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear
of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Because I
had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it can produce,
the will to live somehow grew in intensity.
At last I felt released free to walk the trails and climb the peaks and to brush aside fear.
Questions :
(a) What place that experience had in Douglas’s life ?
(b) What did Roosevelt say ?
(c) What type of experience did Douglas have ?
(d) When did the writer feel released ?
Answers :
(a) That experience had a deep meaning in his life and only those who have known stark
terror and conquered it can appreciate.
(b) Roosevelt said, “All we have to fear is fear itself’.
(c) Douglas had the experience of both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of
it can produce.
(d) At last, the writer felt released free to walk the trails and climb the peaks.