WORKSHEET/ NOTES
Details
Category Worksheet Notes Session 2022-23
Topic/Lesson Deep Water Work Sheet No. Number/ Month/ Year
Grade 12 Subject English
Name Date
Deep Water
Question & Answers
THINK AS YOU READ
Q1. What is the “misadventure ” that William Douglas speaks about?
Ans. William O. Douglas had just learnt swimming. One day, an eighteen year old big bruiser picked
him up and tossed him into the nine feet deep end of the Y.M.C.A. pool. He hit the water surface in a
sitting position. He swallowed water and went at once to the bottom. He nearly died in this
misadventure.
Q2. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was
thrown into the pool? What plans did he make to come to the surface?
Ans. Douglas was frightened when he was thrown into the pool. However, he was not frightened out
of his wits. While sinking down he made a plan. He would make a big jump when his feet hit the
bottom. He would come to the surface like a cork, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of the pool.
Q3. How did this experience affect him?
Ans. This experience revived his aversion to water. He shook and cried when he lay on his bed. He
couldn’t eat that night. For many days, there was a haunting fear in his heart. The slightest exertion
upset him, making him wobbly in the knees and sick to his stomach. He never went back to the pool.
He feared water and avoided it whenever he could
.
Q1. How does Douglas make clear to the reader the sense of panic that gripped him as
he almost drowned? Describe the details that have made the description vivid.
A. William describes his experience where he had a close brush with death at the Y.M.C.A.
Swimming pool. As it is a first-person account, he has described it deeply. The emotional,
mental and physical struggle and the paralyzing fear of drowning have been discussed in
detail.
William retained his intelligence and had a plan to come to the surface. He tried it but I did not
work and after a few trials to save his life, death dawned upon him. All these details make the
description vivid.
Q2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
A. William Douglas was not able to come out of his fear. So, he hired a swimming instructor.
Once he had learned swimming, he wanted to check if he had overcome the fear as well. He
would swim in lakes and found the fear to return in small phases. William was no longer
scared as he knew that he could swim. Hence, he overcame the fear.
Prepared By:_____________
Verified By:___________
Page 1 of 3
WORKSHEET/ NOTES
Q3. 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?
A. William Douglas gives a detailed description of his childhood experience so that the reader
gets familiar with the kind of fear that he had as a child.
When he quotes Roosevelt ““All we have to fear is fear itself” he tries to draw a larger
meaning from this experience. He wants to highlight the fact that life became meaningful and
the desire to live grew intense once he had conquered his fear.
Board questions
Q1: Answer the following question in 120 – 150 words: (10)
[CBSE paper, 2012]
How did Douglas develop an aversion to water?
OR
Q2: Answer the following question in 120 – 150 words: (6)
[CBSE paper, 2015]
What happened at the YMCA swimming pool which instilled fear of water in Douglas’
mind?
A: Since the age of three or four, when the author accompanied his father to the beach, he
realized that he disliked water. He would get frightened by the power of the waves which
threw him, swept over and he was buried in water.
Later, at the age of ten – eleven years, he decided to learn swimming. He joined swimming
classes at a swimming pool at the Y.M.C.A. He felt that the swimming pool was safe. Also, the
pair of water wings would help him stay on the surface but more, they instilled a sense of
confidence in him. It was just when he had started feeling comfortable that an incident took
place. A big boy picked up the author and threw him in the pool at the deep end. He got water
in his mouth and sank to the bottom. He was frightened but kept his mind working and
devised a way out but things did not turn out as planned. His lungs felt as if they would burst,
he was overpowered by fear, reached out, as if to grab something, but could only get his
hands on the water. He got suffocated due to lack of air, could not scream, moved his arms
desperately but all his efforts failed and he once again sank to the bottom of the pool. An
unexplainable terror seized him. His limbs were lifeless, rigid due to fear and he could not
even scream, the only sign of life was his heart beat. He sucked in water and then suddenly
all his efforts to save himself stopped. He was relaxed, peaceful, fearless and sleepy, almost
dead.
It was due to these experiences that the author developed an aversion to water.
Prepared By:_____________
Verified By:___________
Page 2 of 3
WORKSHEET/ NOTES
Q3: Answer in 30 – 40 words: (2)
[CBSE paper, 2013]
How did the instructor turn Douglas into a swimmer?
A: The instructor made him practice swimming step by step and gradually, piece by piece,
turned him into a swimmer. When he had perfected each piece, he put them together into an
integrated whole.
Q4: Answer the following question in 120 – 150 words: (6)
[CBSE paper, 2015]
Describe the efforts made by Douglas to overcome his fear of water.
A: Douglas was in the tight grip of a fear of swimming in water bodies and finally decided to
get rid of it. He hired an instructor who taught him swimming piece by piece and when he had
learnt it all, he combined all the pieces together and made Douglas a swimmer. Still, he was
not confident, and the terror would seize him time and again. Douglas wanted to get rid of all
the fear, he wanted to conquer it. So, he went to various lakes, dived and swam across them.
He reverted sarcastically to the tiny vestiges of fear that would grip him time and again until all
of it vanished away. Douglas realized that fear was merely a crop of the mind and once he
had conquered it, he felt released, free to walk arduous terrains, climb peaks and brush aside
fear. Douglas had faced stark terror and then by conquering it his desire to live life grew
intensely.
Q5: Answer the following question in 30 – 40 words: (2)
[CBSE paper, 2016]
How did his experience at the YMCA swimming pool affect Douglas?
A: Douglas’ experience of drowning and almost being dead instilled a fear of water in him. He
shook and cried, couldn’t eat, for days a haunting fear engulfed him, the slightest exertion
upset him. He never went back to the pool, feared water and avoided it whenever he could.
Prepared By:_____________
Verified By:___________
Page 3 of 3
