1.

What is the misadventure that William Douglas

speaks about?

Sol.

Douglas refers to the incident at the Y.M.C.A.

swimming pool where he almost drowned as a
"misadventure." The author was about ten or eleven
years old at the time and had barely begun to learn
swimming, primarily by aping others. As he was
thrown suddenly into the water by someone and he
couldn't swim, he started drowning. The struggle to
come to the surface and to avoid getting drowned
left him with a deep fear of water which deprived
him of enjoying water-related activities for many
years.
2. What were the series of emotions and fears that
Douglas experienced when he was thrown into the
pool? What plans did he make to come to the
surface?

Sol.

The sudden realization of being thrown into the pool

did not make him lose his wits immediately.
Although frightened, he thought of a trick to come
up to the surface but couldn't execute it
successfully. He panicked and felt suffocated by the
water. His sense-perceptions gave way, his heart
pounded loudly, his limbs became paralyzed with
fear, his mind became dizzy and his lungs ached as
he gulped water while making desperate attempts
to come out of the water. Finally, he lost all his
strength and willingness to keep struggling and
blacked out.
Douglas planned to allow himself to go down till his
feet hit the bottom so that he could make a big
jump to come back to the surface like a cork. Then,
he would lie flat on the surface of water and paddle
to the edge of the pool.
3. How did this experience affect him?

Sol.

The near death experience of drowning had a very

strong impact on his psychology. He was deeply
perturbed and shaken by the whole experience. A
haunting fear of water took control of his physical
strength and emotional balance for many years. As
he couldn't bear being surrounded by water, he was
deprived of enjoying any water-related activity.

4. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear

of water?

Sol.

Douglas was determined to overcome his fear of

water because it haunted him till later in life. It
ruined his fishing trips and deprived him of the joy
of canoeing, boating, and swimming.
5. How did the instructor build a swimmer out of
Douglas?

Sol.

The instructor gradually built a swimmer out of

Douglas by making him practice five days a week,
an hour each day. He taught him the techniques
with the help of a cable and also taught him to
breathe underwater.

6. How did Douglas make sure that he conquered

the old terror?

Sol.

Even after the swimming training was over, Douglas

wasn't confident about his swimming or that he had
overcome the fear. He was determined to
completely get rid of it forever. He swam alone in
the pool. He went to Lake Wentworth to dive. There,
he tried every possible stroke he had learned. He
fought back the tiny vestiges of terror that gripped
him in the middle of the lake. Finally, in his diving
expedition in the Warm Lake, he realized that he had
truly conquered his old terror.
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.

Sol.

Douglas vividly describes each and every moment

of his experience when he was thrown into the pool.
He landed in the pool in a sitting position,
swallowed water and went quickly to the bottom of
the pool. He got frightened but was still not out of
his wits. On the way down, he made a plan. He
planned to make a big jump when his feet hit the
bottom, rise up like a cork to the surface, lie flat on it
and paddle to the edge of the pool. But the jump
made no difference. He came up very slowly. He
panicked and felt suffocated. He tried to shout but
only ended up engulfing more water. His legs didn't
support him. Complete terror had seized him.
Though he jumped again with all his might, it made
no difference. He went down the third time. Soon
his body gave up and he stopped all his efforts. He
felt relaxed while drowning. There was no more
panic. But luckily, before he was dead, he was taken
out of the pool and saved.
2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?

Sol.

At first, he tried to overcome his fear of water on his

own. But when this failed, he got an instructor for
himself who worked on Douglas's fear very
methodically. With his help, Douglas began by
learning to be at ease in the water. After this, he
practised exhaling-inhaling in water to eliminate the
fear of putting his head inside the water. Then, he
moved on to master individual steps of swimming
which were, finally, integrated into a complete
experience of swimming, by his instructor. After
about six months, Douglas could not only swim well
but was, also, free of his fear to a great extent.
At this stage, Douglas' journey of truly overcoming
his fear of its tiniest vestiges began. He swam alone
in the pool. He went to Lake Wentworth to dive. He
tried every possible stroke he learned. Finally, in his
diving expedition, in the Warm Lake, he conquered
his fear completely.
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?

Sol.

As an adult, Douglas recalls a childhood experience

of water terror because he wants to analyse the root
cause of fear. When he was three or four years old,
his father had taken him to the beach in California.
Although he hung on to his father on the surfboard,
yet the waves knocked him down and he was buried
under water. His breath was gone. This developed a
strong fear in his heart at the overpowering force of
the waves. Thus, from the beginning, Douglas had
an aversion to the water when he was in it and it
grew even stronger when he was thrown into the
YMCA pool by a bully. It continued to haunt him till
later in his life. The significance of Douglas's
recount of his childhood experience is that it was
this experience because of which he made his firm
mind to overcome this fear. He did so by mastering
the art of swimming with the help of an instructor.
The larger meaning drawn from this experience is
that terror is only in the fear of death. All one has to
fear is the fear itself. William Douglas had
experienced both the sensation of dying and the
terror that the fear of it can produce. But his will to
live and firm decision made him free from his fear
1. Read the text carefully and answer the questions:
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.
i. Replace the underlined word with its antonym from the extract
When he put his head under water, he saw water all around and the fear returned in a gianr way.
ii. Which sensation returned?
a The terror of water
b. The fear of heights
c. The terror of fire
d. The examination fear
iii When did the terror return?
iv. Why did he laugh?
a. He remembered a funny incident
b. He was very happy
c. He had a tickling sensation
d. To overcome his fear of water
v. On the basis of the extract, choose the correo option with reference to the two statements giv en below.
(1) He saw that the terror vanished, and he resumed swimming.
(2) When the author put his head under water, be got rid of his fear.
a. (1) Can be inferred from the extract but (2) cannot.
b. ( 1) cannot be inferred from the extract but (2) can.
c. (1) is true but (2) is false.
d. (2) is the reason for (1).
vi. Complete the sentence with an appropriate explanation, as per the extract.
The author was swimming in Lake _ __