Deep Waters is a short story of struggle by William Douglas that how he overpowered his fear from water and he learnt a lesson from his life

1. DEEP WATERS
William Douglas

2. SUMMARY

3. Decided to Learn Swim
• Author decided to learn swimming when he was
ten or eleven years old
• Swimming in Yakima river is quite dangerous and
author’s mother had already warned him not to
swim in that river
• She told him about the risks of being drowned in it

4. Y.M.C.A. Pool
• Author then decided to join the Y.M.C.A pool
• It offered him a good opportunity to learn
swimming as it was safe
• It was two to three feet deep at one end and it
was nine feet deep at the other end
• The slope from one end to the other was
gradual in the pond

5. Experience when Author started
fearing water
• The Author tells us about a previous experience
when he started fearing water. He was three or four
years
• Once he went to beach with his father in California.
Author stood at the beach with his father
• Suddenly a powerful wave came and took the
author away from his father. He was buried in water
and his breath was almost gone
• Although his father was laughing at the incident, yet
the fear for water had taken birth in author’s mind

6. Author learning to swim in Y.M.C.A. Pool
• Author bought pair of water wings to swim in
Y.M.C.A. pool
• But then also for sometimes the old childhood
fear comes in his mind
• The author did not want to show his thin legs
to the boys swimming there in Y.M.C.A pool.
But soon he overpowered that thought

7. Author trying to learn swimming
• Sometimes author gathered courage and saw
other boys swimming there in the pool
• He also started paddling by copying them
• He did it for two or three times everyday and
begins to feel swimming easy

8. Misadventure at Y.M.C.A Pool
• One day author was alone at the pool. He was
afraid to go inside the water. The water was
still and tiles at the bottom were clearly visible
to him
• He then saw a boy of 18 with thick hair on his
chest. He cried “Hi Skinny !” and spoke few
words to the author
• He picked the author and threw him at the
deep end of the pool
• Author went down to the bottom of the pool

9. Author at bottom of Pool
• Author decided to hit the bottom of the pool with
great force to spring up at water’s surface
• Then he would lie flat on water and would paddle
to the edge of the pool
• When he touched the bottom of the pool he tried
to spring upwards with full force but pressure of
the water downwards made him to come up slowly

10. Stuck under water
• Author could see only water everywhere
• He cried for help but no sound came out of his
mouth because he was suffocating and he had
almost lost his breath
• He swallowed water and his legs became
paralysed

11. Stuck under water
• Then his nose came up, but not his mouth
• He tried to bring his legs up to make jump
upwards, but a force was pulling him back
towards the bottom of the pool again
• His lungs were paining and he was going
downwards slowly
• Everything was dark before his eyes and a
terror of death gripped his mind

12. Stuck under water
• But strangely he was coming up to the water’s
surface. There was light and his nose and mouth
were almost out of water
• Third time water took him down again. He took a
long breath but water went in his stomach instead of
oxygen
• He lost all strength to struggle and left everything to
God. It was quiet and peaceful than struggle. There
was no fear to death. He became unconscious and
felt asleep

13. Author is Alive
• When author came to his senses, he found
himself at the bank of the pool lying in his
stomach. He was vomiting
• The boy who had thrown him was saying that
he was fooling
• The author had nearly died

14. After that incident
• It took several hours for author to recover
• He went home. He was weak and his legs
were shaking
• He cried when he lay on bed
• That night he could not eat anything
• For many days terrible fear gripped his mind
• He started fearing water and never went to
Y.M.C.A. pool again

15. Author started fearing water
• Author started fearing the water after that
incident took place in Y.M.C.A. Pool
• Now he avoided the water whenever he could
• When he went near water to put his foot in
warm lake of Goat Rocks, terror would seized
him and same fear followed him
• Even during fishing, he felt same old fear
• Fear stayed in his mind as the years rolled by

16. Author hires an Instructor
• In October, author decided to hire an
instructor to learn swimming
• He went to the pool and practiced for one
hour daily in a five days in a week
• The instructor used all security measures to
make him swim

17. Instructor teaches author to swim
• Instructor tied a belt around the author. A
rope attached to the belt went through the
pulley
• Instructor would hold that rope. He
sometimes relax that hold so that author
could go deep into the water
• Author was able to practice swimming safely
• Sometimes author felt the old fear, but slowly
he overcame that old feeling of fear

18. Author learnt swimming
• Author practiced to put his head down in
water and exhale and remove his head
outside the water to inhale
• Then the instructor told him how to use his
legs while swimming
• Finally in April, the instructor’s job was
finished and author could able to swim now

19. Author continued with his training
• Still, author lacked in confidence and would get
filled with that old fear when he was alone at
the pool
• But he did not give up
• He continue to do exercises for four months
• To test himself, he went to the Lake Wentworth
in New Hampshire

20. Author overpowered his Fear
• Author swam two miles across the lake
• He put his face under water and saw nothing
but bottomless water
• The fear came to his mind for short time but
he overpowered it very soon

21. Author learnt a Lesson
• The writer learnt a great lesson by his
experience of swimming
• He came to know that there is great peace in
death
• But there is a great terror in the fear of death
• Once Roosewelt said, ”All we have to fear is
fear itself”

22. THANK YOU