BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that ……………………………………, a student of Grade X11
has successfully completed English project entitled
‘…………………………………………………………………………………’ under
the guidance of Mrs. SHABANA PARVEEN (PGT ENGLISH) during the
academic year 2023-2024 in partial fulfillment of English project conducted by
AISSCE , New Delhi.
REGISTER NUMBER:
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER
PRINCIPAL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to
Mr. Dr. R. KRISHNAMOORTHY, CHAIRMAN, Sri Krish
International School for providing me with all the facility that was
required to complete my project.
I am thankful to Mrs. Dr. [Link] CHITRA, PRINCIPAL,
Sri Krish International School for her valuable guidance and for her
constant encouragement.
It gives me great pleasure to extend my special thanks to my English
teacher Mrs. SHABANA PARVEEN (PGT ENGLISH) for her guidance,
support & encouragement throughout the duration of the project.
Without her motivation and help, the successful completion of this
project would not have been possible.
ENGLISH
PROJECT
Deep Water
By - William Orville Douglas
YOU SHOULD WORK HARD TO OVERCOME YOUR FEARS
About the author
William Orville Douglas
(1898 –1980)
Born in USA
Douglas was a leading advocate of individual rights. He was a judge at the
Supreme Court of USA, retired in 1975 with a term lasting thirty-six years and
remains the longest-serving Justice in the history of the court.
The following excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by William O.
Douglas.
Introduction
In this story, Douglas talks about his fear of water and how he finally
overcomes it with strong will power, courage, hard work, and firm
determination. 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 away.”
Characters & Places
• Douglas: Narrator of the story
• YMCA Pool: A swimming pool runs by Young Men’s Christian Association
• Yakima: Yakima is a US city located about 60 miles southeast of Mount
Rainier in Washington.
Deep Water - Summary
Deep Water is about the writer’s journey of overcoming the fear of water,
which is deeply rooted in him since childhood. The author started fearing water
since the age of four. It starts when he was visiting California with his father. He
visits a beach where a wave knocks him down and sweeps over him. This terrifies
the author, although the father laughs at this knowing, suggesting that it was not
dangerous. However, this experience terrifies the author and develops a fear of
water. After that, when the author is 11 years old, he experiences another incident
which escalates his fear. He is at a swimming pool in Yakima, trying to learn
swimming. On one fine day, a bully decides to pull a dangerous prank. He pushes
him in the deep end of the pool which frightens the author. He reaches nine feet
into the water and starts struggling desperately to hold on to something.
Moreover, he yells for help but he starts feeling paralyzed and only his heart was
moving now. Thus, he gives up and readies himself to die but wakes up at the side
of the pool. However, the terror he experiences while drowning never goes away.
It continues to haunt him for many years and even spoiled his future expeditions
concerning canoeing, swimming, fishing and more. He even visits Marine Lakes,
Columbia, New Hampshire and more but is not able to enjoy it. Thus, he decides
to overcome this fear by every possible way. He enrolls himself in a swimming
class and tries to learn from the instructor. The instructor teaches him many tips
and tricks for swimming. He begins with the inhaling and exhaling part then he
practices it for many weeks. Further, he moves on to the kicking the legs on the
side of the pool. Finally, he combines all this with the final move of swimming.
Although the author knows how to swim, he is still terrified of water. Thus, in
order to get rid of the fear, he decides to confront it. He mocks it by thinking what
can it really do? Consequently, he plunges in to the water and to his surprise, his
fear goes away. He faced it in many places and at last, manages to conquer it.
Conclusion of Deep Water
To sum up, Deep Water summary, we learn that if we are determined enough
and have the courage, we can overcome any fear that comes our way without
letting the fear overpower us.
*****************
Deep Water: Text & Explanation
It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided to learn to
swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima that offered exactly the
opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous.
Y.M.C.A. – Young Men’s Christian Association
Yakima – a place in Washington, USA
Treacherous – dangerous
The writer narrates his experience. He was ten or eleven years old when he had
joined the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool to learn swimming. He did not go to the
Yakima river to swim as it was considered dangerous. This shows that he had a
prior fear of water.
Mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind the details of
each drowning in the river. But the Y.M.C.A. pool was safe. It was only two or
three feet deep at the shallow end; and while it was nine feet deep at the other,
the drop was gradual. I got a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to
walk naked into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
Drop – slope from the shallow area to the deep area
Water wings - A pair of inflatable waterproof bags designed so that one
can be attached to each arm, especially of a child learning to swim
Skinny – thin
Subdued – to overcome
Pride – self-respect
William’s mother would warn him not to go near the Yakima river and would
discuss the various incidents of drowning. He felt that the pool at Y.M.C.A. was
safer. The shallow area of the pool was only two to three feet deep while the deep
area was nine feet in depth. The slope from the shallow area to the deep area was
not steep. He also got a pair of water wings to prevent drowning. He did not like to
wear the swimming costume which exposed his thin legs but as he was keen to
swim, he gave up his self-respect and wore it.
From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water when I was in it.
This started when I was three or four years old and father took me to the beach in
California. He and I stood together in the surf. I hung on to him, yet the waves
knocked me down and swept over me. I was buried in water. My breath was gone.
I was frightened. Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the
overpowering force of the waves.
Aversion – dislike
Surf – wave of the sea
Knocked me down – threw him down
William says that he had always disliked water and recounts an older
experience when he was three or four years old. He went to the beach in California
with his father. They stood as a wave leapt towards them. William stuck to his
father to save himself, but the strong wave threw him down and he was covered in
water. He was scared as he could not breathe. His father laughed and tried to
make him feel comfortable, but the little child was scared when he realized that
the waves were so powerful.
My introduction to the [Link]. swimming pool revived unpleasant memories
and stirred childish fears. But in a little while I gathered confidence. I paddled with
my new water wings, watching the other boys and trying to learn by aping them. I
did this two or three times on different days and was just beginning to feel at ease
in the water when the misadventure happened.
Revived – brought back to mind
Aping - copying
To feel at ease – to feel comfortable
When William joined the swimming pool at the Y.M.C.A., the fear of water
resurfaced in his mind. He gathered confidence by watching other boys swim and
tried to copy them. He had done this twice or thrice at different occasions and had
started gaining confidence when the incident happened. He had a narrow escape
from death.
William O. Douglas had a desire to learn swimming since childhood.
At the age of three or four, he was knocked down and buried by a wave
at a beach in California.
He developed a great aversion to water.
At the age of ten or eleven he decided to learn to swim with water
wings at the
Y.M.C.A pool since it was safe at the shallow end.
A misadventure:- while sitting alone and waiting for others to come at
the Y.M.C.A pool, a big boy came and threw Douglas into deep end of
the pool.
Douglas swallowed water and went straight down to the bottom of the
pool.
While going down he planned to make a big jump upwards but came
up slowly.
Stark terror seized him.
Tried to shout but could not......
As he went down the pool second time, he tried to jump upwards but it
was a waste of
energy.
Terror held him deeper and deeper.
During the third trial he sucked water instead of air.
Light was going out and there was no more panic.
So he ceased all efforts and he became unconscious.
He crossed to oblivion.
When revived he found himself vomiting beside the pool.
He was in grip of fear of water and it deprived him of the joys of
canoeing, boating
swimming and fishing.
Hired an instructor to learn swimming.
The instructor taught him swimming piece by piece.
He went to different lakes to swim and found tiny vestiges of fear still
gripped him.
He challenged the fear and swam.
Swimming up and down the Warm Lake he finally overcame his fear of
water.
He realized that in death there is peace and there is terror only in fear
of death.
Will to live is stronger than fear of death.
FINALLY, HE WAS ABLE TO CONQUER HIS FEAR OF
WATER
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[Link] › ... › Lit Guides › CBSE
[Link] › deep water
[Link] › D.H. Lawrence
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