Deep Waters Afl

GRADE 12
DEEP WATER
QUESTIONS FOR AFL
1.What did Douglas feel and do when he was pushed into the swimming pool? or
What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he
was thrown into the pool?
When Douglas was thrown into the pool, he did not lose heart and planned to
push himself up with all his force. He thought that once he came to the surface,
he would paddle to the edge of the pool. Thrice, he tried to come to the surface,
but unfortunately his strategy did not work and terror gripped him. His lungs were
ready to burst; he was breathless and instead of air, sucked water.
2.How did his swimming instructor ‘build a swimmer’ out of Douglas? How did
Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
The instructor adopted a systematic method to turn Douglas into a swimmer. He
first made Douglas shed his initial fear of water by making him cross a pool
suspended by a rope attached to a pulley. The instructor held the other end of the
rope and relaxed and tightened it from time to time. Then he taught the narrator
to breathe while swimming, and finally the leg movements and other strokes.
After the instructor had trained Douglas in the art of swimming, Douglas was still
not sure of himself. He felt tiny vestiges of the fear now and then. So, he went to
Lake Wentworth and swam. Once when terror returned, he challenged it and did
not let it overcome him. Finally, Douglas went to the Warm Lake. There he swam
and the fear didn’t return to haunt him again.
3.What efforts did Douglas make to get over his fear of water?
The misadventure of having a near-drowning experience left a deep mark on
Douglas’ mind. The phobia of water hampered all his joys of enjoying different
water sports like fishing, canoeing, boating and swimming. He did not want to live
with this handicap and so was determined to overcome his fear of water.After
several individual attempts to overcome his fear, Douglas finally engaged an
instructor. The instructor built a swimmer out of him. But Douglas was not sure.
To confirm that the terror would not strike him when he was swimming alone,
Douglas decided to go to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire. At last, he made his
terror fly away by swimming across the Warm Lake
4.“I crossed to oblivion, and the curtain of life fell.” What was the incident which
nearly killed Douglas and developed in him a strong aversion to water?
The incident which nearly killed Douglas occurred when he was ten or eleven
years old. He had decided to learn swimming at the YMCA pool, and thus get rid
of his fear of water. One . morning, when he was alone at the pool, waiting for
others, a big bully of a boy tossed him into the deep end of the pool. Though he
had planned a strategy to save himself as he went down, his plan did not work. He
went down to the bottom and became panicky. Thrice he struggled hard to come
to the surface, but failed each time. He was almost drowned in the pool. He lost
his consciousness and felt that he would die. Though he was ultimately saved, this
misadventure developed in him a strong aversion to water.
5. Douglas fully realised the truth of Roosevelt’s statement, “All we have to fear is
fear itself.” How did this realisation help him brush aside his fear and become an
expert swimmer?
Douglas had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that the fear
of death can cause. Strong will, hard determination, courage and toil as well as
honest labour won over all his terrors and fears. The will to live brushed aside all
his fears. In reality all our fears are only psychological, and can be easily won over,
if we can control our mind. This realisation makes Douglas resolve to learn
swimming by engaging an instructor. This instructor, piece by piece, built Douglas
into a swimmer. However, his first step was to drive away Douglas’ fear of water,
before training him in swimming techniques. When Douglas tried and swam the
length of the pool up and down, small traces of his old terror of water would
return. So, he went to Lake Wentworth, dived at Triggs Island and swam two
miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. Finally, he was certain that he had
conquered his fear of water.

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GRADE 12

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