Page 1 :
  , About the author, William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine,, Minnesota. After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts, in English and Economics, he spent two years teaching, high school in Yakima. However, he got tired of this and, decided to pursue a legal career. He met Franklin D., Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend to, the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of, individual rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting, thirty-six years and remains the longest-serving Justice, in the history of the court. The following excerpt is taken, from Of Men and Mountains by William O. Douglas. It, reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly, drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks, 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., , Notice these words and expressions in the text., Infer their meaning from the context., , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , It had happened when I was 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, Deep Water/23, , 2021-22

Page 2 :
THE YAKIMA RIVER, , 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, , 2021-22

Page 3 :
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, 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., 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. The water was still, and the tiled bottom was as, 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, of a boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair on, his chest. He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs, 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, end. I landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and, went at once to the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet, frightened out of my wits. On the way down I planned:, When my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump,, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of, the pool., 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, , 2021-22

Page 4 :
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, choked. I tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as dead, weights, paralysed and rigid. A great force was pulling me, under. I screamed, but only the water heard me. I had, started on the long journey back to the bottom of the pool., I struck at the water as I went down, expending my, strength as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. I, had lost all my breath. My lungs ached, my head throbbed., I was getting dizzy. But I remembered the strategy — I, would spring from the bottom of the pool and come like a, cork to the surface. I would lie flat on the water, strike out, with my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then I would get, to the edge of the pool and be safe., I went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing, but water with a yellow glow — dark water that one could, not see through., And then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that, knows no understanding, terror that knows no control,, terror that no one can understand who has not experienced, 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, that I was still alive., And then in the midst of the terror came a touch of, reason. I must remember to jump when I hit the bottom. At, last I felt the tiles under me. My toes reached out as if to, grab them. I jumped with everything I had., But the jump made no difference. The water was still, 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, , 2021-22

Page 5 :
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;, and a blackness swept over my brain. It wiped out fear; it, wiped out terror. There was no more panic. It was quiet, and peaceful. Nothing to be afraid of. This is nice... to be, 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..., tender arms around me... tender arms like Mother’s... now, I must go to sleep..., I crossed to oblivion, and the, curtain of life fell., The next I remember I was,   , lying on my stomach beside the, , pool, vomiting. The chap that threw,   , me in was saying, “But I was only, , fooling.” Someone said, “The kid, , nearly died. Be all right now. Let’s, , carry him to the locker room.”, , Several hours later, I walked,   , home. I was weak and trembling., , 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, me wobbly in the knees and sick to my stomach., I never went back to the pool. I feared water. I avoided, it whenever I could., A few years later when I came to know the waters of, the Cascades, I wanted to get into them. And whenever I, did — whether I was wading the Tieton or Bumping River, 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, , 2021-22

Page 6 :
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., I used every way I knew to overcome this fear, but it, 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, practiced five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor, put a belt around me. A rope attached to the belt went, through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He held on, to the end of the rope, and we went back and forth, back, and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day,, week after week. On each trip across the pool a bit of the, panic seized me. Each time the instructor relaxed his hold, on the rope and I went under, some of the old terror returned, and my legs froze. It was three months before the tension, began to slack. Then he taught me to put my face under, 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., 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, 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, had perfected each piece, he put them together into an, integrated whole. In April he said, “Now you can swim. Dive, off and swim the length of the pool, crawl stroke.”, I did. The instructor was finished., 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, 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, , 2021-22

Page 7 :
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, in miniature. I laughed and said, “Well, Mr Terror, what do, you think you can do to me?” It fled and I swam on., Yet I had residual doubts. At my first opportunity I, hurried west, went up the Tieton to Conrad Meadows, up, the Conrad Creek Trail to Meade Glacier, and camped in, the high meadow by the side of Warm Lake. The next, morning I stripped, dived into the lake, and swam across, to the other shore and back — just as Doug Corpron used, to do. I shouted with joy, and Gilbert Peak returned the, echo. I had conquered my fear of water., The experience had a deep meaning for me, as only, those who have known stark terror and conquered it can, appreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in, the fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we, have to fear is fear itself.” Because, I had experienced both the, sensation of dying and the terror,   , that fear of it can produce, the, , will to live somehow grew in,   , intensity., , At last I felt released — free,   , to walk the trails and climb the, , peaks and to brush aside fear., ,  , 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, , 2021-22

Page 8 :
, 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, people have said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson, Mandela’s struggle for freedom, his perseverance to achieve his, mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor as depicted, in his autobiography. The story We’re Not Afraid To Die, which you, have read in Class XI, is an apt example of how courage and, optimism helped a family survive under the direst stress., ,  , If someone else had narrated Douglas’s experience, how would, it have differed from this account? Write out a sample, paragraph or paragraphs from this text from the point of view, of a third person or observer, to find out which style of narration, would you consider to be more effective? Why?, , , 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, gradually we overcome our fears and perform well., Write an essay of about five paragraphs recounting such an, experience. Try to recollect minute details of what caused the, fear, your feelings, the encouragement you got from others or, the criticism., 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, climb the peaks and to brush aside fear.”, 2. Write a short letter to someone you know about your having, learnt to do something new., , , Are there any water sports in India? Find out about the areas, or places which are known for water sports., 30/Flamingo, , 2021-22

Page 9 :
, THEME, A real-life personal account of experiencing fear and the steps, taken to overcome it., , SUB-THEME, Psychological analysis of fear., , COMPREHENSION, • Understanding another person’s experience., • Relating subjectively to the discussion on fear., , TALKING, , ABOUT THE TEXT, , • Sharing personal experiences., • Sharing accounts of acts of courage., , THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE, Focus on first person narrative style., , WRITING, • First person narration of personal experience., • Letter-writing on personal learning achievement., , THINGS, , TO DO, , Gathering information on water sports., , Deep Water/31, , 2021-22