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?
The present lesson is an excerpt from “Of Men and Mountains”–i.e. an autobiographical account of W. O. Douglas. Here he describes how as a young boy he was nearly drowned in the swimming pool. Here he pens his own experiences, fears and terrors of water. The narration is in the first person, i.e the author has involved himself in the narrative. It is his personalised description which has a direct impact over the readers. It stirs our feelings and equips us to challenge the dangers of life. Douglas gives a vivid account of his drowning in the water and the fear pertaining to it he gives a personal touch in the feeling of the drowning fear the paralysed legs and penkining to it hands that ruined his wishes of canoeing, swimming, boating and, etc. He points out his personal experiences of fear, horror and terror and the strategy that helps him over come his terror of water. Thus the writer has very appropriately stirred up our emotional aspect and the same cann’t be done by writing the account in third person. When the narrator points out that the curtain of life fell', it immediately touches our inner feelings.
A Sample Paragraph Douglas has presented a fine account when he looms in between fear, death and terror and in the end he is crowned with a rewarding success because of his grit, courage, hard toil, strong will and grave intensity to win over his terror. It happened when Dougls was thrown deep into nine feet pool of water. He reached the bottom and became panicky. He felt suffocated and swallowed water. He lost his breath and went down and down. He shrieked to see nothing except water— terror seized him in. He was paralysed and his shrieks were frozen. Thus he made three attempts but went on going down and down. A blackness swept over his brain. He was lost in oblivion with death around his body. When he woke up, he was vomitting water on the surface.
