Class-12th
Subject-English
Date- 10/07/2020
Day- Friday
Topic- Essay Type
Question-Answers of Chapter ‘Deep Water’
Ans. Douglas had experienced a misadventure at the
YMCA swimming pool. It left a deep impression on his mind. The fear of water
stayed with him for many years. When he was ten or eleven years old, he decided
to learn swimming. So he got an instructor to teach him how to swim. He went to
a pool. He practiced there swimming five days a week, an hour a day. The
instructor was an experienced person. He put a belt round him. A rope was
attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley. Douglas was made to go
back and forth across the pool. Then he taught Douglas how to exhale and inhale
while in water. Thus, by slow step, the instructor made him a perfect swimmer.
However, Douglas was not sure that his terror of water had left him. So he went
to Lake Wentworth. He swam two miles across the lake. Only once he had the
sensation of his old fear. At last he conquered his fear of water.
Q. 2 What is the theme of the lesson’ Deep Water’?
Ans. Douglas recounts his
childhood ‘misadventure.’ He describes how he was tossed into the pool by a big
boy. He was nearly drowned in the pool. He was much frightened. This fear of
water remained with him for years. But later, he decided to be a perfect
swimmer. He employed an instructor to learn to swim. The instructor transformed
Douglas into a perfect swimmer. Even after that, he continued practicing
swimming. Finally, he was able to overcome his fear of water.
‘Deep
water’ is not just a childhood experience of terror and conquering of that
terror. It has a deeper and larger meaning. Douglas wants to convey a message
through it. It is the message of hope, struggle and determinism. The psychology
of fear is very complex. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the
fear of death. Roosevelt has rightly said’ All we have to fear is fear itself’
Douglas experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror of it.