Short summary on deep water?
Answers
The story has been taken from the author’s autobiography- ‘Of Men and Mountains’.
In this piece he tells about his fear of water and how he conquered it by determination and will power.
As a child, when he was 3 or 4 years old, he would go to the beach in California with his father. He would get scared by the might of the huge waves which swept over him and it instilled a fear in his sub – conscious mind.
A few years later, in his eagerness to learn swimming, he joined a swimming pool where an incident further increased his terror. He was pushed into the pool by another boy and experienced death closely. Still, when he would swim, the fear from his childhood experiences, embedded in his sub-conscious mind would grip him over and over again. He wanted to conquer that fear. He faced it sarcastically, thinking that now, as he knew how to swim, what harm could it do to him. He challenged his fear in the face of it and finally it would vanish.
It was a baseless fear instilled in his sub-conscious mind. This experience was valuable for him. He had experienced terror and death. He overcame it and finally conquered it. It had happened when I wad that death is peaceful and it is the fear of death that is terrorizing. His will to live life grew intensely as he had overcome his fear s 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 Y.M.CA. 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. I went to the pool when no one else was there. The place was quiet.When William reached the pool, no one was there and so he sat on the edge waiting for other boys to arrive. He was afraid to swim all alone in the pool. As the swimming pool was empty, William could see the bottom also. It had white coloured tiles on it and looked white and clean like a bath tub.
It had not been long since William had been sitting by the pool when a boy arrived. He was around eighteen years of age, had a well – built body with rippling muscles. He seemed to be a bully. He asked William if he wanted to be thrown into the pool.The boy picked William and threw him into the deep end of the swimming pool. William landed on the surface of the pool in the same position as he had been sitting in. His mouth was open and as he did not know swimming, he swallowed water as he sank into the pool. He was frightened, but he used his intelligence and on his way down the pool, planned to push himself up when he reached the bottom. He thought that he would make a big jump to the surface, lie on his back and swim to the edge of the pool.
Answer:
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.