Question

summary of chapter " Deep water "??

Answer 1

The story, “Deep Waters” tells us how the writer overcame his fear of water and learned swimming with sheer determination and will power. He had developed a terror of water since childhood. When he was three or four years old, the writer had gone to California with his father. One day on the beach, the waves knocked the child down and swept over him. The child was terrified but the father who knew, there was no harm, laughed. The experience bred a permanent fear of water in the child’s sub-conscious mind. Still another incident, more serious, increased his terror. The writer was trying to learn swimming in the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool in Yakima. One day while he was waiting for other boys, a big boy suddenly played a dangerous prank and pushed him into the water. The writer was terribly frightened. He went down nine feet into the water. When he reached the bottom, he jumped upward with all his strength. He came up but very slowly. He tried to catch hold of something like a rope but grasped only at water.

He tried to shout but no sound came out. He went down again. His lungs ached, head throbbed and he grew dizzy. He felt paralyzed with fear. All his limbs were paralyzed. Only the movement of his heart told him that he was alive. Again he tried to jump up. But this time his limbs would not move at all. He looked for ropes, ladders and water wings but all in vain. Then he went down again, the third time. This time all efforts and fear ceased. He was moving towards peaceful death. The writer was in peace. When he came to consciousness, he found himself lying on the side of the pool with the other boys nearby. The terror that he had experienced in the pool never left him. It haunted him for years and years to come. It spoilt many of his expeditions of canoeing, swimming and fishing. It spoilt his pleasures in Maine Lakes, New Hampshire, Deschutes, Columbia and Bumping Lake etc.
But the writer was determined to conquer his terror. He took help of a swimming instructor to learn swimming. The instructor taught him various actions necessary in swimming part by part. He put his face under water and exhaled and inhaled raising it above water. He practiced it for several weeks. He had to kick with his legs a few weeks on the side of the pool. At last he combined all these actions and made the writer swim. He learned swimming but the terror continued. So deep goes our childhood experiences! So fearful is the fear of fear! Whenever he was in water the terror returned. Hence forward the writer tried to terrorize terror itself. He tried to face the new challenge. When terror came, he confronted it by asking it sarcastically as to what it can really do to him? He plunged into the water as if to defy the fear. Once he took courage the terror vanquished. He faced the challenge deliberately in various places like the Warm Lake. He conquered it at last.

Answer 2

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.