DEEP WATER by WULLIAM O DOUGLAS

Values Raised : Determination, optimism, perseverance, diligence, openness to challenges, courage, persistence, endurance etc.

William Douglas, one of the most popular and powerful American Supreme Court Chief Justices in the history, had an enemy since the childhood. He tried to defeat this enemy in all possible ways. First he tried to overcome this enemy all by himself and later with the help of a trainer. Though he took years to defeat the enemy, finally Douglas killed his enemy. He was not arrested or sentenced for this murder, not because he himself was the chief justice, but because his murdered enemy was his fear of water!

Bit/Bits

• William Douglas had great passion for water.
• He longed to learn swimming.
• When he was three or four years, he was taken to a Beach in California by his father.
• While surfing on the shore, a huge wave knocked him. He feared water. That was his childhood fear.
• After some years he longed to swim in the Yakima River but his mother warned against that idea. the yakima river is treacherous.
• Then he found the YMCA Pool the safest place for swimming. Its deepest end was six feet deep, the bottom was tiled, the drop towards the deep part was gradual, water was clean and there were other children swimming.
• He went to the pool and started swimming by imitating other boys.
• One day, while waiting for the other boys to come, a big boy threw him into the deepest end of the water.
• Douglas had the courage to face the situation. He went down and down with a hope to reach the bottom to make a big leap upward.
• Three times he went down and on the third time, he lost consciousness and almost died!
• Douglas gives a vivid description of death which is peaceful.
• Douglas’ ‘body’ floated on the surface. Someone dragged him out of the water and provided first aid.
• After this incident, Douglas tried to avoid water and water sports as much as possible.
• When he grew up, water began to tempt him again.
• He got a trainer and learnt swimming.
• After the completion of the training, he went to various rivers, pools, lakes and swam alone and got rid of his fear.

Instructor 

• In October Douglas got an instructor for swimming.
• In three months, his fear began to fade.
• Bit by bit he shed his fears.
• The instructor engaged his feet and hands into swimming.

Getting rid of Fear

• After the instructor was done, Douglas started a self training.
• He went to the following rivers and lakes:
  • Lake Wentworth (New Hampshire)
  • Triggs Islands
  • Stamp Act Island
  • Tieton – Conrad Meadows
  • Conrad Creek Trail – Meade Glacier
  • Warm lake
• He conquered the fear of water for ever.

Summary

The story, “Deep Waters” tells us how the writer overcame his fear of water and learned swimming with sheer determination and will power. He had developed a terror of water since childhood. When he was three or four years old the writer had gone to California with his father. One day on the beach, the waves knocked the child down and swept over him. The child was terrified but the father who knew there was no harm laughed. The experience bred a permanent fear of water in the child’s sub-conscious mind. Still another incident, more serious, increased his terror. The writer was trying to learn swimming in the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool in Yakima. One day while he was waiting for other boys, a big boy suddenly played a dangerous prank and pushed him into the water. The writer was terribly frightened. He went down nine feet into the water. His lungs were full of the unreleased air. When he reached the bottom, he jumped upward with all his strength. He came up but very slowly. He tried to catch hold of something like a rope but grasped only at water.
He tried to shout but no sound came out. He went down again. His lungs ached, head throbbed and he grew dizzy. He felt paralyzed with fear. All his limbs were paralyzed. Only the movement of his heart told him that he was alive. Again he tried to jump up. But this time his limbs would not move at all. He looked for ropes, ladders and water wings but all in vain. Then he went down again, the third time. This time all efforts and fear ceased. He was moving towards peaceful death. The writer was in peace. When he came to consciousness, he found himself lying on the side of the pool with the other boys nearby. The terror that he had experienced in the pool never left him. It haunted him for years and years to come. It spoilt many of his expeditions of canoeing, swimming and fishing. It spoilt his pleasures in Maine Lakes, New Hampshire, Deschutes, Columbia and Bumping Lake etc.

But the writer was determined to conquer his terror. He took help of a swimming instructor to learn swimming. The instructor taught him various actions necessary in swimming part by part. He put his face under water and exhaled and inhaled raising it above water. He practiced it for several weeks. He had to kick with his legs a few weeks on the side of the pool. At last he combined all these actions and made the writer swim. He learned swimming but the terror continued. So deep goes our childhood experiences! So fearful is the fear of fear! Whenever he was in water the terror returned. Hence forward the writer tried to terrorize terror itself. He tried to face the new challenge. When terror came, he confronted it by asking it sarcastically as to what it can really do to him? He plunged into the water as if to defy the fear. Once he took courage the terror vanquished. He faced the challenge deliberately in various places like the Warm Lake. He conquered it at last.
The experiences of the writer throw some important lights on certain aspects of life. Experiences of pain or pleasure in childhood remain in the sub-conscious mind and influence our feelings later too. The fear of water acted on the writer in that way. Even after being an expert in swimming, the writer felt terror. There was no reason at all. Once he took courage, the fear vanished. That shows most of our fears are baseless. Fear creates dangers where there is none. The writer’s experiences further confirm the proverbial truth, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

How did William Douglas overcome his fear of water?

With an instructor and an overhead cable connected to his waist, Douglas began to learn to swim. He dipped his head, exhaled underwater, inhaled on surface, kicked with legs, and even swam in isolated or treacherous waters to overcome hydrophobia.

Describe the misadventure that made Douglas hydrophobic

Once, a bully pushed Douglas into the deep end of the YMCA pool. Gripped by paralyzing fear, in vain, Douglas tried to spring upwards to the surface twice. He almost lost consciousness before he was saved. This misadventure made Douglas hydrophobic.

 “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Discuss.

Indeed, William O. Douglas’ Deep Water justifies President Roosevelt’s assertion that all we have to fear, is fear itself.

William O. Douglas’ aversion to water began with his mother’s warnings about the  Yakima river and a childhood sea holiday where he first experienced the power o   water.

The misadventure at the YMCA pool, where a bully pushed Douglas into the water  nearly drowning him, turned the fear into a phobia. However Douglas decided to   challenge this handicap.

With the help of an instructor, and using a pulley connected by a belt to his waist, Douglas re-learnt how to swim in a pool. He learnt to dip his head, exhale underwater  and inhale on resurfacing.

Even after the trainer declared success, Douglas tested his skill in treacherous and  unfamiliar waters till his phobia vanished completely. Thereafter, William O. Dougla  realized that once the ‘fear of fear’ disappeared, true success awaited.

Answer the following questions in 30-40 words each:

–      How did the anxiety towards water develop in Douglas?

–      Which misadventure turned Douglas’ anxiety into a phobia?

–      How did Douglas challenge his hydrophobia?

–      Why does Douglas say, ‘But I was not finished’?

–      What opinion of William Douglas do you form from this extract and what values can one learn from him?

Answer the question in 120-150 words: Describe the misadventure that initiated             Douglas’ hydrophobia.

 Draw a plot line for the chapter with an exposition, rising action, falling action and resolution

QUESTION BANK

Short answer questions –

1. What was the misadventure that William Douglas speaks about?
2. What was the writer’s first reaction on being flung into the pool?
3. Why did William Douglas hate the idea of getting into water?
4. How did the instructor build a swimmer out of William Douglas?
5. How did William Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?

BROAD QUESTIONS

1. It is Douglas’ will power that enabled him to overcome his fear of water. This reveals that with a strong will human beings can overcome all kinds of fear. Explain with two illustrations from real life.
2. Which experience made the writer feel terrified of water?
3. Explain in brief William Douglas’ attempt to come out of the pool.
4. How did the instructor help the writer learn swimming?