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Deep Water
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?
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 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 fear of 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 : 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 will to live is great and it can take man to touch the highest peaks of life.
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“All we have to fear is fear itself.” Have you ever had a fear that you have now overcome? Share your experience with your partner.
Find and narrate other stories about conquest fear and what people have said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson Mandela’s courage and his struggle for freedom, his perseverance to achieve his mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor as depicted in his autobiography. The story “We’re Not Afraid To Die,” which you have read in class XI, is an apt example of how courage and optimism that helped the family service under the direst stress.
If some one else had narrated Douglas’s experience how would it have differed from this account. Write out a sample paragraph or paragraphs from this text from the point of view of a third person or observer, to find out. Which style of narration would you consider to be more effective? Why?
Doing well in any activity, for example a sport, music, dance or painting, riding a motorcycle or a car, involves a great deal of struggle. Most of us are very nervous to begin with until gradually we overcome our fears and perform well.
Write an essay of about five paragraphs recounting such an experience. Try to recollect minute details of what caused the fear, your feelings, the encouragement you got from others or the criticism.
You could begin with the last sentence of the essay you have just read – “At last I felt relased – free to walk the trails and climb the peaks and to brush aside fear.”
Write a short letter to someone you know about your having learnt to do something new.
Are there any water sports in India? Find out about the areas or places which are known for water sports.
What does the mother of Douglas say abot the Y.M.CA. pool?
What created an aversion for water in William Douglas when he was three years old?
Or
Why did William Douglas develop an aversion to the water when he was three or four year old?
What came in the mind of Douglas when his feet hit the bottom?
What is the ‘misadventure’ that William Douglas speaks about?
Or
What misadventure did William Douglas experience at the Y.M.CA pool?
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