Class | Subject | Book | Chapter | Session | Questions covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XII | English | Flamingo (NCERT) | 3 – Deep Water | 2026-27 | 15 of 15 |
Chapter at a glance
Aspect | Key point |
|---|---|
Author | William O. Douglas (1898–1980), US Supreme Court judge; excerpt from his autobiography Of Men and Mountains |
First fear | At 3 or 4, a wave at California beach knocked him down; fear of water began |
Misadventure | At 10–11, at the Y.M.C.A. pool, a big bruiser boy threw him into the deep end (9 feet); he went down three times, panicked, nearly drowned, and fainted |
Overcoming | Hired an instructor; practised for months — rope and pulley, exhaling under water, kicking legs; then swam alone at Lake Wentworth, Warm Lake, Conrad Meadows; “terror fled” |
Lesson | “All we have to fear is fear itself” (Roosevelt); in death there is peace; there is terror only in the fear of death |
Think as you read
Question C1
What is the “misadventure” that William Douglas speaks about?
Answer
When Douglas was ten or eleven, he was learning to swim at the Y.M.C.A. pool. One day, as he sat alone at the edge of the pool, a big bruiser of a boy, about eighteen, picked him up and tossed him into the deep end (nine feet deep). Douglas went down to the bottom, came up and went down three times, swallowing water and panicking; he nearly drowned before losing consciousness. He was rescued, but the experience left him with a deep fear of water.
At the Y.M.C.A. pool, an eighteen-year-old bully threw ten-year-old Douglas into the nine-foot deep end; he went down three times, panicked and nearly drowned before fainting — leaving him with a lasting fear of water.
Question C2
What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was thrown into the pool?
Answer
- He was “frightened, but not yet frightened out of [his] wits” at first; he planned to spring up from the bottom.
- As he went down, he felt panic — his lungs were ready to burst, he swallowed water, he was paralysed with stark terror; his legs would not move.
- He felt terror and helplessness each time he failed to reach the surface; he tried to shout but no sound came.
- Then the terror that knows no understanding gripped him, the terror of an animal; he struggled frantically.
- Finally, he gave up struggling — a blankness and peace came over him; he felt drowsy, and thought “this is death”; then he lost consciousness.
He moved from initial fright and a calm plan to spring up, to panic and stark terror as his lungs burst and legs froze, to helpless, animal-like terror as he failed to surface, and finally to a strange peace and blankness as he stopped struggling and lost consciousness.
Question C3
How did this experience affect him?
Answer
- For days he had a haunting fear; his legs would tremble, and he would feel weak and dizzy.
- He never went back to the pool; he feared water and avoided it whenever possible.
- The fear ruined his fishing trips and prevented him from enjoying canoeing, boating, swimming and the pleasures of water — he could not go into the Cascades’ lakes.
- The fear stayed with him for years, handicapping him, until he decided to conquer it.
He developed a haunting fear of water: he trembled and felt weak at the thought of it, never returned to the pool, and for years the fear spoiled his fishing, canoeing and swimming, until he decided to conquer it.
Question C4
Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
Answer
The fear of water had become a handicap. It ruined his fishing trips, deprived him of the joy of canoeing, boating and swimming, and followed him everywhere. Whenever he went near water, the terror returned. He realised he had to overcome it to enjoy life fully and so hired an instructor to learn swimming.
Because the fear haunted him for years and deprived him of the joys of fishing, canoeing, boating and swimming, he decided to conquer it and hired an instructor.
Question C5
How did the instructor “build a swimmer” out of Douglas?
Answer
The instructor worked piece by piece, step by step, for months: 1. He put a belt around Douglas attached to a rope on an overhead pulley, and held the rope while Douglas went back and forth across the pool for weeks — this reduced the panic. 2. He taught him to put his face under water and exhale, and to raise his nose and inhale — repeated hundreds of times — so that he lost his fear of going under. 3. He made Douglas kick his legs while holding the side of the pool, until his legs relaxed. 4. Then he made him swim with the rope, gradually loosening it, and finally swim without it. After about seven months, the instructor had made “a swimmer” of Douglas.
Over months, step by step: he swam back and forth tied to a rope on a pulley held by the instructor; learnt to exhale under water and inhale above it hundreds of times; practised kicking while holding the side; and finally swam without the rope — becoming a swimmer in about seven months.
Question C6
How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?
Answer
Even after learning to swim, residual terror remained. To be sure, Douglas went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived off a dock at Triggs Island and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island; he swam the crawl, breast stroke, side stroke and back stroke. When the terror returned, he laughed at it and swam on. Later, he swam in Warm Lake and went to Conrad Meadows up the Tieton and swam in the lake there. He shouted with joy — the fear had gone; he was “released” and free.
He tested himself by swimming two miles across Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, using different strokes and laughing away the returning terror, and later swam in Warm Lake and at Conrad Meadows — confirming that the fear had finally gone.
Understanding the text
Question U1
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.
Answer
Douglas uses vivid, sensory and step-by-step details of what he saw, felt and thought: 1. Physical sensations – “before I touched bottom my lungs were ready to burst”; “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”; “My lungs ached, my head throbbed. I was getting dizzy.” 2. Visual details – “water that had a dirty yellow tinge to it”; “Nothing but water with a yellow glow”; “The yellowish light was going out.” 3. His plans and their failure – “On the way down I planned: When my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump…”; “I imagined I would bob to the surface like a cork. Instead, I came up slowly.” 4. Emotions – “sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that knows no understanding, terror that knows no control”; “I tried to yell but no sound came out”; “I screamed, but only the water heard me.” 5. The final calm – “Then all effort ceased. I relaxed. Even my legs felt limp; and a blackness swept over my brain.”
The first-person narration and short sentences make the reader experience his panic.
He narrates in the first person with vivid sensory detail — bursting lungs, swallowing water, limp legs, a force pulling him down, the yellow glow of water, failed plans to spring up, attempts to shout with no sound, stark terror — and finally the calm blackness of fainting, making the reader feel his panic.
Question U2
How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
Answer
- He hired an instructor, who trained him step by step for about seven months — swimming with a rope and pulley, exhaling under water and inhaling above it, kicking his legs, and then swimming without support (“piece by piece he built a swimmer”).
- Even after training, he tested himself repeatedly — swimming alone in the pool; whenever the terror returned, he challenged and mocked it until it went away
- He swam two miles across Lake Wentworth, then in Warm Lake and at Conrad Meadows, and the terror was gone completely.
- His will power, determination and persistence helped him conquer the fear.
He hired an instructor who trained him step by step for seven months (rope and pulley, breathing under water, kicking), then tested himself repeatedly — mocking the terror, swimming across Lake Wentworth and in Warm Lake and Conrad Meadows — overcoming the fear through determination and persistence.
Question U3
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?
Answer
Why he recounts it: to show how a childhood fear can shape and handicap one’s life, and how it can be overcome through determination and effort; to share his personal experience so that readers can learn from it.
Larger meaning: 1. “All we have to fear is fear itself” (Franklin D. Roosevelt) – fear is often greater than the danger itself; once we face it, it loses its power. 2. He experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it produces. He learnt that there is peace in death; there is terror only in the fear of death. This gave him a deeper understanding of life and courage. 3. The will to live and the courage to face fear make us free; conquering fear gave him freedom “to walk the trails and climb the peaks and to brush aside fear”.
He tells the story to show how fear can cripple life and how it can be conquered through will and effort. The larger meaning: “All we have to fear is fear itself” — the terror lies in the fear of death, not in death itself, where there is peace; conquering fear sets one free to live fully.
Talking about the text
Question T1
“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.
Answer
(Sample experience.)
I used to be terrified of public speaking. Whenever I had to speak in the morning assembly, my hands trembled, my mouth went dry and I forgot my lines. I avoided debates and even answering in class. My English teacher encouraged me to join the debating club. I began by reading short passages aloud at home in front of a mirror, then to my family, and later to a small group of friends. I prepared thoroughly and practised breathing slowly before speaking. At my first inter-house debate, I was nervous, but once I began, the fear lessened. The applause at the end gave me confidence. Today I enjoy speaking on stage and have even anchored a school function. Like Douglas, I learnt that fear shrinks when we face it step by step.
Sample: a fear of public speaking was overcome step by step — practising before a mirror, then family and friends, preparing well and controlling breathing — until speaking on stage became enjoyable, showing that fear shrinks when faced.
Question T2
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.
Answer
- Nelson Mandela – he spent 27 years in prison fighting apartheid in South Africa. In Long Walk to Freedom, he wrote: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” He emerged without bitterness to become South Africa’s first black president.
- We’re Not Afraid to Die – Gordon Cook and his family, sailing round the world, faced a giant wave and storm that nearly sank their ship Wavewalker; with courage, teamwork and optimism (even the children showed great courage and optimism), they reached Île Amsterdam safely.
- Arunima Sinha – after losing a leg when thrown from a train, she became the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest (2013).
- Helen Keller – deaf and blind from infancy, she learnt to read, write and speak and became an author and activist: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
- Malala Yousafzai – shot by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, she continued her mission and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Quotes: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear” (Mark Twain); “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (F.D. Roosevelt).
Examples: Nelson Mandela’s 27 years in prison (“courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”), the Cook family surviving a storm in We’re Not Afraid to Die, Arunima Sinha climbing Everest after losing a leg, Helen Keller overcoming blindness and deafness, and Malala Yousafzai continuing her fight for education after being shot.
Thinking about language
Question L1
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?
Answer
Difference: a third-person narrator could describe only what was visible — the boy being thrown, his struggle and rescue — but not Douglas’s inner thoughts, feelings and sensations (his plans, panic, terror, and the peace before fainting), unless the narrator was omniscient.
Sample third-person paragraph
Young William sat alone on the edge of the pool, waiting for the others. Suddenly a big, muscular boy of about eighteen came up, picked him up and tossed him into the deep end. William hit the water with a splash and sank. A few moments later his head bobbed up; he flailed his arms, gasped and went down again. Those standing nearby laughed at first, thinking it a prank. When the boy came up a third time and then lay still beneath the surface, they realised something was terribly wrong. Someone dived in, pulled him out and laid him on the side. His face was pale, and he was vomiting water. It was a long while before he recovered.
Which is more effective: the first-person narration is more effective because it gives an intimate, authentic account of his emotions, thoughts and physical sensations from the inside, creating suspense and making the reader share his terror and his triumph. The third-person account is more objective but less emotionally powerful.
A third-person narrator could describe only visible actions (being thrown in, struggling, being rescued), not Douglas’s inner panic, plans and final calm. The first-person account is more effective because it conveys his thoughts and sensations from the inside, creating suspense and empathy, while the third-person version is more detached.
Writing
Question Wr1
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.”
Answer
Learning to Ride a Bicycle
At last I felt released — free to walk the trails and climb the peaks and to brush aside fear. That was exactly how I felt the evening I finally rode my bicycle around the colony park without anyone holding the carrier. But reaching that moment had taken weeks of struggle, falls and tears.
When I was eleven, my father bought me a shiny red bicycle. I was thrilled — until I sat on it. The moment my feet left the ground, I felt I would topple. On my first attempt, I wobbled for a few feet and crashed into a hedge, scraping my knee and elbow. My cousins laughed, and I wanted to give up. Every time I looked at the bicycle afterwards, my stomach churned and my palms grew sweaty. I made excuses — homework, a headache, rain — to avoid practising.
My father would not let me quit. Every evening he took me to the quiet lane behind our house. He held the back of the seat and ran alongside me, saying, “Look ahead, not at the ground. Keep pedalling.” Slowly I learnt to balance for a few seconds, then a few more. My mother bandaged my bruises and told me that every rider had fallen many times. My elder sister showed me how to brake gently and turn without panicking.
Then one evening, as I pedalled down the lane chatting with my father, I realised his voice was coming from far behind. He had let go several metres earlier, and I had been riding on my own! The fear returned for a second and I wobbled, but I steadied myself and kept going. I rode to the end of the lane, turned around and came back to him, grinning from ear to ear.
Since then, cycling has become my favourite activity. I ride to school, to the market and with friends on weekends. The experience taught me that fear grows when we avoid what frightens us and shrinks when we face it with patience and practice. Like Douglas, I discovered that the terror was mostly in my mind — and that conquering it gave me a wonderful sense of freedom.
A five-paragraph essay beginning with Douglas’s last sentence, recounting e.g. learning to ride a bicycle: initial falls and fear, avoidance, encouragement from family, the moment of riding alone, and the lesson that facing fear patiently brings freedom.
Question Wr2
Write a short letter to someone you know about your having learnt to do something new.
Answer
12, Shanti Nagar Jaipur 26 October 20XX
Dear Nani,
I hope you and Nanaji are in the best of health. I have exciting news for you — I have finally learnt to swim!
You know how scared I was of water ever since I slipped into the pond at your village two years ago. This summer, Papa enrolled me in a swimming class at the sports complex. For the first week, I would not even let go of the edge of the pool. My coach was very patient. He first taught me to put my face in the water and blow bubbles, then to float with a kickboard, and to kick my legs properly. Slowly, my fear began to fade.
Last Sunday, I swam the full length of the pool — twenty-five metres — without any support! Everyone clapped, and I felt so proud. Now I go to the pool every evening and am learning the backstroke.
I can’t wait to come to the village in December and show you my new skill (in a safe place, of course!). Please give my love to Nanaji.
With lots of love, Ananya
An informal letter (address, date, salutation, body, close) telling a relative about learning something new — e.g. learning to swim despite an old fear, the coach’s step-by-step method, and the pride of swimming a full length.
Things to do
Question D1
Are there any water sports in India? Find out about the areas or places which are known for water sports.
Answer
Water sports in India: swimming, river rafting, kayaking, canoeing, scuba diving, snorkelling, surfing, parasailing, water skiing, jet skiing, windsurfing, sailing, banana boat rides, rowing, and traditional snake-boat races.
Place | Water sports |
|---|---|
Rishikesh (Uttarakhand) — Ganga | White-water rafting, kayaking |
Goa (Baga, Calangute, Anjuna beaches) | Parasailing, jet skiing, water skiing, banana boat, scuba diving |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Havelock, Neil Island) | Scuba diving, snorkelling, sea walking |
Lakshadweep | Scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking |
Kerala (Kovalam, Varkala; Alappuzha backwaters) | Surfing, snake-boat race (Nehru Trophy), kayaking |
Brahmaputra and Zanskar (Assam, Ladakh) | River rafting |
Dal Lake (Srinagar) | Shikara rides, water skiing |
Tarkarli and Malvan (Maharashtra) | Scuba diving, snorkelling |
Kolad (Maharashtra), Dandeli (Karnataka) | River rafting, kayaking |
Mahabalipuram, Covelong (Tamil Nadu) | Surfing |
Yes — rafting, kayaking, scuba diving, snorkelling, surfing, parasailing, jet skiing, sailing and snake-boat races. Known places include Rishikesh (rafting), Goa (parasailing, jet skiing), Andaman and Lakshadweep (scuba diving), Kerala (surfing, snake-boat races), Dal Lake, Tarkarli, Kolad, Dandeli and Mahabalipuram.
Topic checklist
- ☒ The misadventure and its effects (C1–C3, U1)
- ☒ Overcoming fear (C4–C6, U2, U3)
- ☒ Personal experiences and stories of courage (T1, T2)
- ☒ First-person vs third-person narration (L1)
- ☒ Essay, letter and water sports (Wr1, Wr2, D1)