3 Deep Water

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About the author

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William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine,
Minnesota. After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts

h
in English and Economics, he spent two years teaching

T s
high school in Yakima. However, he got tired of this and

i
decided to pursue a legal car eer. He met Franklin D.

R l
Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend to
the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of

b
individual rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting

E
thirty-six years and remains the longest-serving Justice

u
in the history of the court. The following excerpt is taken

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from Of Men and Mountains by William O. Douglas. It

p
reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly
drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks

N re
about his fear of water and thereafter, how he finally
overcame it. Notice how the autobiographical part of
the selection is used to support his discussion of fear.

© e
Notice these words and expressions in the text.

b
Infer their meaning from the context.
y treacherous y misadventure

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y subdued my pride y bob to the surface like a cork
y y

t
flailed at the surface curtain of life fell
y fishing for landlocked salmon y back and forth across the pool

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It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had

o
decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A.
in Yakima that offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima

n
River was treacherous. 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
Deep Water/23
THE YAKIMA RIVER

e d
T s h
R l i
E u b
C
N re p
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b
to
ot
n
The Yakima River is a tributary
of the Columbia River in eastern
Washington, U.S.A. The state is
named after the indigenous
Yakama people.

Sketch map not to scale

24/Flamingo
naked into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my
pride and did 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

d
the waves knocked me down and swept over me. I was

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buried in water. My breath was gone. I was frightened.
Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the

h
overpowering force of the waves.
My introduction to the Y.M.CA. swimming pool revived

T i s
unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a

l
little while I gathered confidence. I paddled with my new

R
water wings, watching the other boys and trying to learn

b
by aping them. I did this two or three times on different

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days and was just beginning to feel at ease in the water

u
when the misadventure happened.

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I went to the pool when no one else was there. The place

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was quiet. The water was still, and the tiled bottom was as

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white and clean as a bathtub. I was timid about going in
alone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for others.
I had not been there long when in came a big bruiser

© e
of a boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair on
his chest. He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs

b
and arms that showed rippling muscles. He yelled, “Hi,
Skinny! How’d you like to be ducked?”
With that he picked me up and tossed me into the deep

o
end. I landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and

t
went at once to the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet
frightened out of my wits. On the way down I planned:

t
When my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump,

o
come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of
the pool.

n
It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more
like ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were
ready to burst. But when my feet hit bottom I summoned
all my strength and made what I thought was a great spring
upwards. I imagined I would bob to the surface like a cork.
Instead, I came up slowly. I opened my eyes and saw nothing

Deep Water/25
but water — water that had a dirty yellow tinge to it. I
grew panicky. I reached up as if to grab a rope and my
hands clutched only at water. I was suffocating. I tried to
yell but no sound came out. Then my eyes and nose came
out of the water — but not my mouth.
I flailed at the surface of the water, swallowed and

d
choked. I tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as dead

e
weights, paralysed and rigid. A great force was pulling me
under. I screamed, but only the water heard me. I had

h
started on the long journey back to the bottom of the pool.
I struck at the water as I went down, expending my

T i s
strength as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. I

l
had lost all my breath. My lungs ached, my head throbbed.

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I was getting dizzy. But I remembered the strategy — I

b
would spring from the bottom of the pool and come like a

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cork to the surface. I would lie flat on the water, strike out

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with my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then I would get

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to the edge of the pool and be safe.

p
I went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing

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but water with a yellow glow — dark water that one could
not see through.
And then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that

© e
knows no understanding, terror that knows no control,
terror that no one can understand who has not experienced

b
it. I was shrieking under water. I was paralysed under water
— stiff, rigid with fear. Even the screams in my throat were
frozen. Only my heart, and the pounding in my head, said

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that I was still alive.

t
And then in the midst of the terror came a touch of
reason. I must remember to jump when I hit the bottom. At

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last I felt the tiles under me. My toes reached out as if to

o
grab them. I jumped with everything I had.
But the jump made no difference. The water was still

n
around me. I looked for ropes, ladders, water wings. Nothing
but water. A mass of yellow water held me. Stark terror
took an even deeper hold on me, like a great charge of
electricity. I shook and trembled with fright. My arms
wouldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t move. I tried to call for
help, to call for mother. Nothing happened.

26/Flamingo
And then, strangely, there was light. I was coming out
of the awful yellow water. At least my eyes were. My nose
was almost out too.
Then I started down a third time. I sucked for air and
got water. The yellowish light was going out.
Then all effort ceased. I relaxed. Even my legs felt limp;

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and a blackness swept over my brain. It wiped out fear; it

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wiped out terror. There was no more panic. It was quiet
and peaceful. Nothing to be afraid of. This is nice... to be

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drowsy... to go to sleep... no need to jump... too tired to
jump... it’s nice to be carried gently... to float along in space...

T i s
tender arms around me... tender arms like Mother’s... now

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I must go to sleep...

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I crossed to oblivion, and the

b
curtain of life fell.

E
The next I remember I was

u
lying on my stomach beside the 1 . What is the “misadventure” that

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pool, vomiting. The chap that threw William Douglas speaks about?

p
2 . What were the series of emotions
me in was saying, “But I was only

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and fears that Douglas
fooling.” Someone said, “The kid
experienced when he was thrown
nearly died. Be all right now. Let’s into the pool? What plans did he
carry him to the locker room.”

© e
make to come to the surface?
Several hours later, I walked 3 . How did this experience affect
home. I was weak and trembling. him?

b
I shook and cried when I lay on
my bed. I couldn’t eat that night. For days a haunting fear
was in my heart. The slightest exertion upset me, making

o
me wobbly in the knees and sick to my stomach.

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I never went back to the pool. I feared water. I avoided
it whenever I could.

t
A few years later when I came to know the waters of

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the Cascades, I wanted to get into them. And whenever I
did — whether I was wading the Tieton or Bumping River

n
or bathing in Warm Lake of the Goat Rocks — the terror
that had seized me in the pool would come back. It would
take possession of me completely. My legs would become
paralysed. Icy horror would grab my heart.
This handicap stayed with me as the years rolled by.
In canoes on Maine lakes fishing for landlocked salmon,

Deep Water/27
bass fishing in New Hampshire, trout fishing on the
Deschutes and Metolius in Oregon, fishing for salmon on
the Columbia, at Bumping Lake in the Cascades —
wherever I went, the haunting fear of the water followed
me. It ruined my fishing trips; deprived me of the joy of
canoeing, boating, and swimming.

d
I used every way I knew to overcome this fear, but it

e
held me firmly in its grip. Finally, one October, I decided to
get an instructor and learn to swim. I went to a pool and

h
practiced five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor
put a belt around me. A rope attached to the belt went

T i s
through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He held on

l
to the end of the rope, and we went back and forth, back

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and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day,

b
week after week. On each trip across the pool a bit of the

E
panic seized me. Each time the instructor relaxed his hold

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on the rope and I went under, some of the old terror returned

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and my legs froze. It was three months before the tension

p
began to slack. Then he taught me to put my face under

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water and exhale, and to raise my nose and inhale. I repeated
the exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit I shed part of the
panic that seized me when my head went under water.

© e
Next he held me at the side of the pool and had me
kick with my legs. For weeks I did just that. At first my

b
legs refused to work. But they gradually relaxed; and finally
I could command them.
Thus, piece by piece, he built a swimmer. And when he

o
had perfected each piece, he put them together into an

t
integrated whole. In April he said, “Now you can swim. Dive
off and swim the length of the pool, crawl stroke.”

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I did. The instructor was finished.

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But I was not finished. I still wondered if I would be
terror-stricken when I was alone in the pool. I tried it. I

n
swam the length up and down. Tiny vestiges of the old
terror would return. But now I could frown and say to that
terror, “Trying to scare me, eh? Well, here’s to you! Look!”
And off I’d go for another length of the pool.
This went on until July. But I was still not satisfied. I
was not sure that all the terror had left. So I went to Lake

28/Flamingo
Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived off a dock at Triggs
Island, and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act
Island. I swam the crawl, breast stroke, side stroke, and
back stroke. Only once did the terror return. When I was
in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw
nothing but bottomless water. The old sensation returned

d
in miniature. I laughed and said, “Well, Mr Terror, what do

e
you think you can do to me?” It fled and I swam on.
Yet I had residual doubts. At my first opportunity I

h
hurried west, went up the Tieton to Conrad Meadows, up
the Conrad Creek Trail to Meade Glacier, and camped in

T i s
the high meadow by the side of Warm Lake. The next

l
morning I stripped, dived into the lake, and swam across

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to the other shore and back — just as Doug Corpron used

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to do. I shouted with joy, and Gilbert Peak returned the

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echo. I had conquered my fear of water.

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The experience had a deep meaning for me, as only

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those who have known stark terror and conquered it can

p
appreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in

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the fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we
have to fear is fear itself.” Because
I had experienced both the

© e
sensation of dying and the terror
1 . Why was Douglas determined to
that fear of it can produce, the
get over his fear of water?

b
will to live somehow grew in
2 . How did the instructor “build a
intensity. swimmer” out of Douglas?
At last I felt released — free

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3 . How did Douglas make sure that
to walk the trails and climb the he conquered the old terror?

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peaks and to brush aside fear.

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Understanding the text

o
n
1. 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.
2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
3. 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?
Deep Water/29
Talking about the text
1. “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.
2. Find and narrate other stories about conquest of fear and what

d
people have said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson
Mandela’s struggle for freedom, his perseverance to achieve his

e
mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor as depicted
in his autobiography. The story We’re Not Afraid To Die, which you

h
have read in Class XI, is an apt example of how courage and

T s
optimism helped a family survive under the direst stress.

R l i
Thinking about language

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If someone else had narrated Douglas’s experience, how would
it have dif fered fr om this account? W rite out a sample

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paragraph or paragraphs from this text from the point of view

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of a third person or observer, to find out which style of narration

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would you consider to be more effective? Why?

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Writing

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1. 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

b
gradually we overcome our fears and perform well.
Write an essay of about five paragraphs r ecounting such an

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experience. Try to recollect minute details of what caused the
fear, your feelings, the encouragement you got from others or

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the criticism.

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You could begin with the last sentence of the essay you have
just read — “At last I felt released — free to walk the trails and

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climb the peaks and to brush aside fear.”
2. Write a short letter to someone you know about your having

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learnt to do something new.

Things to do
Are there any water sports in India? Find out about the areas
or places which are known for water sports.

30/Flamingo
ABOUT THE UNIT
THEME
A real-life personal account of experiencing fear and the steps
taken to overcome it.
SUB-THEME

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Psychological analysis of fear.

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COMPREHENSION
• Understanding another person’s experience.

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• Relating subjectively to the discussion on fear.

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TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

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• Sharing personal experiences.

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• Sharing accounts of acts of courage.

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THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE

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Focus on first person narrative style.

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WRITING

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• First person narration of personal experience.

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• Letter -writing on personal learning achievement.
THINGS TO DO

© e
Gathering information on water sports.

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to
o t
n
Deep Water/31
DEEP WATER

About Author: William Douglas

William Douglas is a prominent advocate of individual rights and justice in the

USA supreme courts. He was born in October 16, 1898 in Maine Township,
Minnesota, USA.

It is an autobiographical story excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by

William O. Douglas. In this lesson, Douglas talks about his fear of water when
he drowned in a swimming pool.

Theme of Deep Water

Deep Water theme, it is an essay written by William Douglas, how he
overcomes fear with courage, hard work, determination, volition and intense
desire to learn swimming. The most important point of this chapter is ‘fear’
and its ‘victory’ over it

This text expresses the idea that fear is a major problem for our lives ahead of
our happiness but it is an illusion that we can run away with sheer willpower.
William Douglas told about his fear of water through this lessons.
Message of Chapter deep water.
The “Deep Water” story convey how the writer overcame his fear of water and
learned swimming with sheer determination and willpower.

The message states that there is peace in fear but someone is scared to
death. Which creates terror in our mind, if we try our best to drive away fear,
then any things can be conquered.

Justification of Title

This extract is appropriately entitled “Deep Water”. The author recounts his
fear of swimming following an incident in which he had been swept away by a
wave. Another incident which further aggravated his fear was when a bully
pushed him into the deep side of a swimming pool and he nearly drowned.
But slowly he overcomes his fear through determination and strong will. He
even took the services of an instructor. He swam in different pools and lakes
to overcome his fear. The title also signifies that the author’s fear was a deep-
rooted one. In short, the title is appropriate.

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.
Gist of the lesson:
 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. 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.
Message

The story “Deep Waters” tells us how the writer overcame his fear of
water and learned swimming through sheer determination and
willpower. He had developed a terror of water since childhood.
William Douglas was able to overcome his fear by sheer
determination. The message conveyed by this story is that it is not
death but the fear of death that creates terror in our mind, so that fear
needs to be shaken off. Also, any fears can be conquered if we try
hard enough.

CHAPTER NUTSHELL

William Douglas talks about his fear of water and thereafter, how he
finally overcame it. The autobiographical element in the lesson is
used to support his discussion of fear.

 Author’s Aversion to Water

 started when he was three or four years old.
 visited a beach in California with his father/stood with his father
in the surf.
 the waves knocked him down and swept over him.
 he was buried in water/breath was gone/frightened.
 father laughed
 there was the tenor in his heart at the overpowering force of the
waves.
 `Misadventure’ at the YMCA
 the author was sitting on the side of the pool.
 a big bruiser of a boy tossed him the deep end of the pool.
 the author landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and
went at once to the bottom.
 the author was frightened.
 planned that he would jump and come to the surface/paddle to
the edge of the pool.

(i) It’s impact:

(a) he was weak and trembling

(b) shook and cried when he lay on his bed/couldn’t eat that night.

(c) for days a haunting fear remained in his heart.

(d) the slightest exertion upset him and made him wobbly in the
knees and sick in the stomach.

(e) never went back to the pool.

(ii) Subsequent:

(a) the fear remained in a river or pool legs would become paralyzed.

(b) icy horror would grab his heart.

(c) deprived Douglas of enjoying water sport-ruined his fishing

trips/deprived him of the joy.

(d) in canoes on Maine lakes fishing for landlocked salmons.

(e) bass fishing in New Hampshire, trout fishing on the Deschutes

and Metolius in Oregon, fishing for salmon on the Columbia, at
Bumping Lake in the Cascades-fear of water followed him.

(iii) Conquering his fear:

(a) Engaged an instructor to learn swimming.

(b) the instructor made him practice five days a week, an hour every
day

(c) put a belt around him.

(d) a rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an
overhead cable

(e) instructor held on to the end of the rope.

(f) the author went back and forth several times each day.

(g) took three months to learn

(h) instructor taught him to put his face under water and exhale

(i) to raise his nose and inhale

(j) instructor made him kick with his legs

(k) thus piece by piece he finally learnt how to swim

 though the author had learnt to swim, he still felt that the old
fear would grip him again.
 Went to lake Wentworth-swam two miles across the lake.
 swam the crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke and backstroke.
 the old sensation returned in miniature.
 then went up the Tieton to Conrad Meadows, up the Conrad
Creek Trail to Meade Glacier, and camped by the Warm Lake.
 swam across to the other shore and back
 he had finally conquered his fear.
(iv) Draws a larger meaning from this experience:

(a) in death there is peace

(b) there is terror only in the fear of death/as Roosevelt said “All we
have to fear is fear itself”

(c) since the narrator had experienced both the sensation of dying and
the terror that fear of it can produce; the will to live grew in him.

Background of Deep Water

Deep Water summary will assist you in understanding the meaning of
this chapter. It is an extract from the book ‘Men and Mountains’ by
William Douglas. Over here, the author tells us about how he
overcomes the deep-rooted fear of water. We learn that the author
develops fear of water following two very dreadful incidents. In this
first one, he is four years old when a wave knocks him down.
Similarly, in the second one, he is 11 years of age. A bully throws
him in the deep end of the pool and almost drowns. Thus, having
gone through such scary experiences, he fears water deeply.
However, he does work really hard to overcome it. Finally, we learn
about the measures he takes to overcome this fear. Moreover, he
accomplishes in overcoming the fear and gives us all a great lesson of
determination and will power.
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 it was no danger.
However, this experience terrifies him 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
hook or by crook. He enrols 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.

Q1. What is the ‘misadventure’ that William Douglas speaks about?

Ans. William Douglas joined YMCA to learn swimming at the age of ten-
eleven. There, an eighteen-year-old boy dropped him into a pool nine feet
deep. When Douglas realized he was drowning, he made several attempts to
save himself, but all failed. He felt that this was his last breath and he fainted.

Q2. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?

Ans. Douglas feared water-based activities and deprived of enjoying canoeing,

boating, fishing and swimming. Douglas enjoyed the determination to
overcome the confidence he had lost since childhood to enjoy such activities.

Q3. 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?

or

What did Douglas feel and do when he was pushed into the swimming
pool?

Ans. When Douglas was thrown into the pool, he was very much scared but he
did not lose his mind. He planned that he would make a big jump when his
feet would touch the bottom. Thus, he would come to the surface.
Unfortunately, the plan failed. Douglas then grew panicky and started
suffocating. He felt that he would die, and became unconscious.
Q4. How did douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?

or

How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?

Ans. Douglas went to California Beach with his father at the age of three to
four years, and when the sea waves passed over him, he had problems
breathing and water around him, which made him feared of water. When
Douglas was ten-eleven years old, a boy over eighteen years old was dropped
into a nine miles deep swimming on the YMCA pool.

Douglas did not come out of the pool despite a lot of coercion and drowned.
He was quite scared. To relieve his fears, Douglas hired an instructor, under
whom he learned swimming. The instructor tied a rope with a belt to the waist
to overcome Douglas’s fear. The instructor slowly leaves the rope and swims
around in the pool.

After this instructor taught him to breathe in water and to walk. Thus gradually
the fear of Douglas’ mind was dispelled. Thus, Douglas spent six months with
the instructor, from October to April. Then he practiced on his own in various
lakes, finally overcoming his fears.

Q5. 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?

or

What did Douglas feel and do when he was pushed into the swimming
pool?

Ans. When Douglas was thrown into the pool by an eighteen-year-old boy, he
was terrified but did not lose his mind. Douglas planned, when he would go
down make a big jump and come to the surface. Unfortunately the exact
opposite happened. He made a sound but did not come out of the bridge and
suffocated. He thought, he would die but it didn’t happen.
Deep Water Extra Questions and Answers
Q1. Which two incidents in Douglas’ early life made him scared of water?

Ans. The first incident occurred when he was three or four years old at a beach
in California. A strong wave knocked Douglas down and he was buried in
water. His breath was gone. He was much frightened but his father was
holding him. The next incident occurred at the YMCA pool when he was ten or
eleven. A big bully of a boy tossed him into the deep end of the pool. He went
down to the bottom and got panicky. Thrice he struggled hard to come to the
surface but he was almost drowned in the pool. This misadventure developed
terror and fear of water in Douglas.

Q2. Why was the YMCA pool considered safe to learn swimming?

Ans. According to Douglas the YMCA pool was safer than the Yakima River.
The Yakima River was deep and more likely to drown. The YMCA pool was
originally built for swimming and training. The pool was only two or three feet
deep, unlike the river’s uncertain depths. Douglas felt much safer at the YMCA
pool as there were other people to pay attention to.

Q3. How did the instructor turn Douglas into a swimmer?

or

How did the instructor make Douglas a good swimmer?

Ans. The instructor adopted a systematic method to turn Douglas into a

swimmer. He first made him shed off 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.