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CH - Deep Water-3

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18 views

CH - Deep Water-3

Uploaded by

areumyvonne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Ch- Deep Water

Question.1. Which two incidents in Douglas’ early life made


him scared of water?
Answer. When Douglas was three or four years old, his
father took him to a beach in California. There he was
knocked down by strong waves, was almost buried under
water, and got breathless. Though he hung on to his father,
he was quite frightened. Secondly, when Douglas was ten or
eleven, a big bully of a boy tossed him into the deep end of
the YMCA pool. He could not come to the surface, in spite of
all his efforts, and became panicky. These two incidents
made Douglas scared of water.

Question.2.Why did Douglas prefer to go to YMCA swimming


pool to learn swimming?
or
Which factors made Douglas to decide in favour of YMCA
pool?
Answer. According to Douglas, the YMCA pool was safer
compared to the Yakima River. The river was quite deep and
there were several cases of drowning reported about it. As
against the uncertain depth of the river, the pool was only
two or three feet deep at the shallow end. Though its depth
was about nine feet at the deeper end, yet the drop was
gradual, and Douglas could rely on it.

Question 3. What efforts did Douglas make to get over his


fear of water?
Answer. After several individual attempts to overcome his
fear, Douglas finally engaged an instructor. The instructor
built a swimmer out of him. But Douglas was not sure. To
confirm that the terror would not strike him when he was
swimming alone, Douglas decided to go to Lake Wentworth
in New Hampshire. At last, he made his terror fly away by
swimming across the Warm Lake.

Question.4. Why was Douglas determined to get over his


fear of water?
Answer. The misadventure of having a near-drowning
experience left a deep mark on Douglas’ mind.
The phobia of water hampered all his joys of enjoying
different water sports like fishing,
canoeing, boating and swimming. He did not want to live
with this handicap and so was determined to overcome his
fear of water.
Question.5. What did Douglas experience when he went
down to the bottom of the pool for the
first time?
Answer. When the author was going down to the bottom of
the pool for the first time, those nine feet felt almost like
ninety feet. His lungs were ready to burst, but somehow he
summoned all his strength and sprang upwards, hoping to
reach the surface, but he didn’t pop up to the surface like a
cork, as he had imagined. When he opened his eyes he saw
nothing but water, his hands too grabbed only water.

Question.6.When Douglas realised that he was sinking, how


did he plan to save himself?
Answer. When a big boy threw Douglas into the water, he
went straight down. He was completely frightened. Still, he
did not lose his wits and thought of a strategy to make a big
jump when his feet touched the bottom, so that he could
reach the surface. He even thought that he would lie flat on
the surface and finally paddle to the edge of the pool.

Question.7. Douglas fully realised the truth of Roosevelt’s


statement, “All we have to fear is fear
itself.” How did this realisation help him brush aside his fear
and become an expert swimmer?
Answer. Douglas had experienced both the sensation of
dying and the terror that the fear of death can cause. Strong
will, hard determination, courage and toil as well as honest
labour won over all his terrors and fears. The will to live
brushed aside all his fears.
In reality all our fears are only psychological, and can be
easily won over, if we can control our mind. This realisation
makes Douglas resolve to learn swimming by engaging an
instructor. This instructor, piece by piece, built Douglas into
a swimmer. However, his first step was to drive away
Douglas’ fear of water, before training him in swimming
techniques. When Douglas tried and swam the length of the
pool up and down, small traces of his old terror of water
would return. So, he went to Lake Wentworth, dived at
Triggs Island and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp
Act Island. Finally, he was certain that he had conquered his
fear of water.
Question 8.
How did the instructor turn Douglas into a swimmer?
Answer:
To ‘build a swimmer’ out of Douglas, the instructor began his training
with extreme caution. He attached a rope to a belt and put it around
Douglas. The rope went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable.
Supported by the cable, they went to and fro in the pool and practiced
for weeks together. The instructor taught Douglas to put his face
underwater and exhale and to raise his nose and inhale. He then taught
him to kick in water for many weeks. Finally after seven months, the
instructor told him to swim the length of the pool and Douglas’
persistent fear started fading.

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