“Fear can be overcome only by facing it”. How does the writer bring out this theme in the chapter
Deep Water?
Answers
The author had gone to YMCA pool to learn swimming to overcome his childhood fear. However, a mishap happened that further deepened his fear. The narrator was sitting alone on the edge of the pool; a big muscular boy came and threw him into the pool. Douglas did not know swimming; he almost drowned. If the muscular boy had not saved him, Douglas could have drowned.
The drowning incident at the pool had many short and long-term consequences on Douglas. The short-term consequences such as weakness, trembling, sickness, haunting fear of water, etc.
He had to work very hard to overcome his deeply ingrained fear of water that he had got infected with at the YMCA pool after the tragic incident. The fear spoilt all his excursions with his friends. Whenever he accompanied his friends to Cascades, Tieton, Warm lake, the fear of water seized him, his legs paralysed and icy horror grabbled his heart.
Finally one October he hired an instructor to learn swimming. The instructor put a belt around him. He attached the belt around him. He attached the belt to a cable that ran overhead. He held on the rope and the author tried to swim back and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. The author took three months to learn the basics. Then the instructor taught him how to exhale underwater and how to raise his nose and inhale. Then he taught him how to kick the water with his legs.
After teaching and perfecting the basics, he asked the author to swim the length of the pool. From the next day onwards, the author swam the length of the pool all by himself. After that there was no turning back. He swam across Lake Wentworth and Warmlake. That is how the author overcame his fear.