Short summary on deep water
Deep Waters is an extract taken from the book, Men and Mountains written by William Douglas. In this extract the author narrates how he overcame deeply ingrained fear of water.
The fear of water had developed in his mind after two scary incidents. The first incident had happened when he was a boy of four standing at beach. A huge wave had knocked him down and he was immersed in it for a short while; the second incident happened when he was 11 years old. He was at YMCA pool sitting by the pool side. A big bully boy threw him into the deep end of the pool. The narrator would have drowned if the boy had not saved him.
These two incidents developed fear of water in the narrator?s mind. 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.
The fear of water had developed in his mind after two scary incidents. The first incident had happened when he was a boy of four standing at beach. A huge wave had knocked him down and he was immersed in it for a short while; the second incident happened when he was 11 years old. He was at YMCA pool sitting by the pool side. A big bully boy threw him into the deep end of the pool. The narrator would have drowned if the boy had not saved him.
These two incidents developed fear of water in the narrator?s mind. 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.