This article contains the essentials of Deep Water Summary Class 12 English with NCERT Solutions For Class 12 English Flamingo Deep Water for revision, for better performance in tests and exams. The author, Patricia Highsmith, in this work, acquaints the readers that it is not death but the fear of death that scares one and all. We must fight the fear otherwise it will overpower us. Below you can find a brief explanation of the lesson and NCERT Solutions For Class 12 English Flamingo Deep Water.
We also provide Notes and Lesson Plan. Our Study Rankers specially made them for better understanding. Students may read the PDF of NCERT Chapter 3 English Class 12 Flamingo Deep Water to practice concepts with NCERT Solutions and Extra Questions and Answers. We prepared these by keeping in mind the latest CBSE curriculum. Shine among your friends after scoring high in Quiz, MCQ, and Worksheet.
Summary Class 12 English Deep Water(Class 12 English Chapter 3)
Characters in Spotlight: Deep Water
- Douglas
- Narrator of the story
- A positive thinker
- Honest
- Hard working man
- Determined man
- Strategic thinker and planner
- YMCA Pool
- YMCA full form in Deep Water : A swimming pool which runs by Young Men’s Christian Association
- Yakima
- Yakima is a US city located about 60 miles southeast of Mount Rainier in Washington.
Quick Overview: Deep Water NCERT
In the Deep Water chapter for class 12 English, Chapter 3, Douglas talks about his fear of water and how he finally overcomes it with strong will power, courage, hard work, and firm determination. By this incident of William Douglas, Deep Water, Patricia shows most of our fears are baseless. Fear creates dangers where there is none.
Summary of Deep Water Class 12 English
The chapter ‘Deep Water’ tells us how the narrator overcame his fear of water and learned swimming with sheer determination and will power.
For our Deep Water explanation, William Douglas had developed a terror of water since childhood. When he was three or four years old, the writer had gone to California with his father. One day on the beach, the waves knocked the child down and swept over him. The child was terrified but the father who knew, there was no harm, laughed. The experience bred a permanent fear of water in the child’s sub-conscious mind.
Have You Revised An Elementary School Classroom In A Slum?
Still another incident, more serious, increased his terror. The writer was trying to learn swimming in the Y.M.C.A. swimming pool in Yakima. One day while he was waiting for other boys, a big boy suddenly played a dangerous prank and pushed him into the water. The writer was terribly frightened. He went down nine feet into the water. When he reached the bottom, he jumped upward with all his strength. He came up but very slowly and tried to catch hold of something like a rope but grasped only at water. He tried to shout but no sound came out. Again, he went down. His lungs ached, head throbbed and he grew dizzy. He felt paralyzed with fear. All his limbs were paralyzed. Only the movement of his heart told him that he was alive. Again he tried to jump up. But this time his limbs would not move at all. He looked for ropes, ladders and water wings but all in vain. Then he went down again, the third time. This time all efforts and fear ceased. He was moving towards peaceful death. The narrator was in peace.
Learn About Benefits of Swimming!
When he came to consciousness, he found himself lying on the side of the pool with the other boys nearby. The terror that he had experienced in the pool never left him. It haunted him for years and years to come. This fear spoiled many of his expeditions of canoeing, swimming and fishing. It spoilt his pleasures in Maine Lakes, New Hampshire, Deschutes, Columbia and Bumping Lake etc. But the writer was determined to conquer his terror.
He took help of a swimming instructor to learn swimming. The instructor taught him various actions necessary in swimming part by part. He put his face under water and exhaled and inhaled raising it above water and practiced it for several weeks. He had to kick with his legs a few weeks on the side of the pool.
At last he combined all these actions and made the writer swim. He learned swimming but the terror continued. Whenever he was in water the terror returned. Hence forward the writer tried to terrorize terror itself. He tried to face the new challenge. When terror came, he confronted it by asking it sarcastically as to what it can really do to him? He plunged into the water as if to defy the fear. Once he took courage the terror vanquished. He faced the challenge deliberately in various places like the Warm Lake. He conquered it at last.
The Deep Water Class 12 Summary in Hindi[Deep Water Summary in Hindi]
अध्याय ‘डीप वाटर’ हमें बताता है कि कैसे कथाकार ने पानी के अपने डर पर काबू पाया और दृढ़ संकल्प और इच्छा शक्ति के साथ तैरना सीखा। डीप वाटर में विलियम डगलस को बचपन से ही पानी का डर पैदा हो गया था। जब वे तीन-चार वर्ष के थे, तब लेखक अपने पिता के साथ कैलीफोर्निया गए थे। एक दिन समुद्र तट पर, लहरों ने बच्चे को नीचे गिरा दिया और उसके ऊपर बह गया। बच्चा डर गया, लेकिन पिता जो जानता था, कोई हर्ज नहीं है, हंसा। अनुभव ने बच्चे के अवचेतन मन में पानी का एक स्थायी भय पैदा कर दिया। फिर भी एक और घटना, उससे भी गंभीर, ने उसके आतंक को और बढ़ा दिया। लेखक याकिमा वाई.एम.सी.ए. स्विमिंग पूल में तैराकी सीखने का प्रयास कर रहा था। एक दिन जब वह दूसरे लड़कों का इंतजार कर रहा था, तभी एक बड़े लड़के ने अचानक एक खतरनाक शरारत की और उसे पानी में धकेल दिया। लेखक बहुत डरा हुआ था। वह नौ फीट नीचे पानी में चला गया। जब वह नीचे पहुंचा तो पूरी ताकत से ऊपर की ओर कूद पड़ा। वह ऊपर आया लेकिन बहुत धीरे से और रस्सी जैसी किसी चीज को पकड़ने की कोशिश की लेकिन पानी पर ही पकड़ लिया। उसने चिल्लाने की कोशिश की लेकिन कोई आवाज नहीं निकली। वह फिर नीचे चला गया। उसके फेफड़ों में दर्द हुआ, और उसे चक्कर आने लगे। वह डर से लकवाग्रस्त महसूस कर रहा था। उसके सभी अंग लकवाग्रस्त हो गए थे। उसके हृदय की गति ने ही उसे बताया कि वह जीवित है। उसने फिर कूदने की कोशिश की। लेकिन इस बार उसके अंग बिल्कुल नहीं हिल रहे थे। उसने रस्सियों, सीढ़ियों और पानी के पंखों की तलाश की लेकिन सब व्यर्थ। फिर वह तीसरी बार फिर नीचे चला गया। इस बार सारे प्रयास और भय समाप्त हो गए। वह शांतिपूर्ण मौत की ओर बढ़ रहा था। कथावाचक शांति से था। जब उसे होश आया तो उसने खुद को पास के अन्य लड़कों के साथ तालाब के किनारे पड़ा पाया। पूल में उसने जो आतंक का अनुभव किया था, उसने उसे कभी नहीं छोड़ा। इसने उसे आने वाले वर्षों और वर्षों तक परेशान किया। इस डर ने कैनोइंग, तैराकी और मछली पकड़ने के उनके कई अभियानों को खराब कर दिया। इसने मेन लेक, न्यू हैम्पशायर, डेसच्यूट्स, कोलंबिया और बम्पिंग लेक आदि में उसके सुखों को खराब कर दिया। लेकिन लेखक अपने आतंक पर विजय पाने के लिए दृढ़ था। उन्होंने तैराकी सीखने के लिए एक तैराकी प्रशिक्षक की मदद ली। प्रशिक्षक ने उसे भाग-दर-भाग तैराकी में आवश्यक विभिन्न क्रियाएं सिखाईं। उन्होंने अपना चेहरा पानी के नीचे रखा और साँस छोड़ते हुए इसे पानी से ऊपर उठाकर कई हफ्तों तक इसका अभ्यास किया। उसे कुछ हफ़्ते पूल के किनारे अपने पैरों से किक मारनी पड़ी। अंत में उन्होंने इन सभी क्रियाओं को मिला दिया और लेखक को तैरने के लिए मजबूर कर दिया। उसने तैरना सीखा लेकिन आतंक जारी रहा। जब भी वह पानी में था आतंक लौट आया। इसलिए आगे लेखक ने आतंक को ही आतंकित करने की कोशिश की। उन्होंने नई चुनौती का सामना करने की कोशिश की। जब आतंक आया, तो उसने व्यंग्य से यह पूछकर उसका सामना किया कि यह वास्तव में उसके साथ क्या कर सकता है? वह डर को टालने के लिए पानी में डूब गया। एक बार उसने हिम्मत की तो आतंक परास्त हो गया। उन्होंने वार्म लेक जैसे विभिन्न स्थानों पर जानबूझ कर चुनौती का सामना किया। उसने अंत में इस पर विजय प्राप्त की।
Deep Water Summary Class 12 English : NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Deep Water
THINK AS YOU READ
Q. 1. What is the “misadventure ” that William Douglas speaks about? Provide some examples of overpowering synonym
A) William O. Douglas had just learnt swimming. One day, an eighteen year old big bully picked him up and tossed him into the nine feet deep end of the Y.M.C.A. pool. He hit the water surface in a sitting position and swallowed water and went to the bottom of the pool. He almost died in this misadventure.
Some examples of synonyms of overpowering are master, control or overthrow.
Q. 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?
A) Douglas was afraid when he was thrown deep into the water of the pool. However, he did not panic. While sinking down he made a plan to make a big jump when his feet will touch the bottom. He would come to the surface like a cork, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of the pool.
Q. 3. How did this experience affect him? What is the opposite of deep water?
A) On regaining consciousness after being rescued, Douglas found himself lyung on his stomach and vomiting. The misadventure left him weal and trembling. He shook and cried when he lay on his bed. He could not eat that night and was haunted by fear for days. The slightest exersion upset him making him wobble in the knees and sick to his stomach. He developed an aversion for water and never went back to pool. It took him years and persistent efforts and training to overcome the fear.
The opposite of deep water is shallow water.
Q. 4. Provide YMCA full form in English[Alternatively : What is YMCA pool’s full form?]
A) The full form of YMCA pool in Yakima full form is Young Men’s Christian Association
THINK AS YOU READ
Q. 1. Why was Douglas determined to get over his fear of water?
A) The misadventure of having a near-drowning experience left an indelible mark on Douglas’ mind. The phobia of water hampered all of his joys of enjoying different water sports like fishing, canoeing, boating, swimming. Douglas did not want to live with this handicap,so he was determined to overcome it at any cost.
Q. 2. How did the instructor “build a swimmer” out of Douglas?
A) Realizing Douglas’ deep water phobia, the instructor devised a novel way of helping him. He attached the rope to the belt worn by Douglas which went through a pulley that ran on an over-head cable. Holding the end of the rope in his hand, he mad Douglas go back and forth in the pool without any acute sense of fear. When he felt exhausted, to help him cope up, the instructor taught him various breathing techniques and different swimming styles.
Q. 3. How did Douglas make sure that he conquered the old terror?[Alternatively : Describe, in terms of a swimming paragraph, the various stints taken by Douglas to overcome his fear?]
A) Although Douglas was now trained, he still feared water when he was alone in the pool. Douglas was seized by old memories, but he used to suppress it and do another length of the pool. But he wanted more confidence, so, he went to Lake Went-worth in New Hampshire, dived off a dock at Triggs Island and swam two miles across the lake, went to Meade Glacier, dived into Warm Lake and swam across the lake measuring two miles to Stamp Act Island. And by this, he made sure that he had conquered over his old terror of water.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
Q. 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.
A) The author in her theme of Deep Water, has given very detailed account of Douglas’ feelings and trials from getting drowned by using many literary devices. For example, ‘Those nine feet were more like ninety’ (exaggeration), ‘My lungs were ready to burst.’(exaggeration), ‘I came up slowly, I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water….. I grew panicky’ (visuals), ‘I was suffocating. I tried to yell, but no sound came out!’.
Q. 2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?[Alternatively : How did Douglas overcome the old terror of water?]
A) When Douglas grew up, he decided to overcome his fear and he took the help of an instructor to learn swimming. Realizing Douglas’ mortal fear for water, the instructor devised a novel way of helping him. He attached the rope to the belt worn by Douglas which went through a pulley that ran on an over-head cable. Holding the end of the rope in his hand, he mad Douglas go back and forth into the deep water of pool without any acute sense of fear. Next, the instructor taught him to exhale under water and inhale through raised nose. He made him kick his legs to make them relax. Then he asked him to swim. He continued swimming from April to July. Sometimes, while wading across the Tieton or Bumping River, his old terror seized him. Since he was not satisfied, so, he swam two miles across Lake Went-worth, dived at Triggs island, and swam the whole length to the shore and back of Warm Lake. Finally, he overcame his fear of water.
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Q. 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?
A) An individual’s personality is based on his childhood exposure and experiences, complexes and fear ingrained in the mind as a child continue to stay with him even when he grows up. Therefore, by working relentlessly on a childhood experience of terror and conquering it, Douglas is giving us a glimpse of the inner strength of his mind. The childhood misadventure kept alive the icy horror that grabbed his heart for years to come.
Deep Water Summary Class 12 English : Some Frequently Asked Questions
Q. 1. Describe the big bully that plunged Douglas into the pool. Why do you think he threw Douglas into the pool?
A) ‘The big bruiser of a boy’ who tossed little Douglas into the pool had a hairy chest and rippling muscles. He was very proud of his impressive physique. This inconsiderate and irresponsible boy foolishly threw Douglas into the pool out of shear fun and mock at his underdeveloped muscles.
Q. 2. Why did mother warn Douglas against river Yakima?
A) Mother warned Douglas against river Yakima as it was treacherous. Very deceptive to look at, this apparently harmless river had climbed several lives. Mother did not want her 11 year old son to go anywhere near it. So, she warned him against the river.
Some more Class 12 English Deep Water Question Answers
How did Douglas develop an aversion to water?
Why did Douglas go to swim at Lake Wentworth? [Alternatively : Why did Douglas go to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire?]
Character sketch of Douglas.
Did Douglas enjoy his fishing trips after that accident?
He felt as though his breath had vanished since he was knocked to the ground by waves that washed over him. He also got covered in mud. The terrifying incident had pushed back his interest in fishing, kayaking, and other water related activities, but eventually he overcame his fear.
Complete the following lines “Swim like a _________”[Alternatively : “Swim like a ________.” Complete the following line]
Write four sentences that show that the writer was frightened. “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Explain. [Alternatively: The excerpt “All we have to fear is fear itself”, Deep water, refers to?]
• The experience bred a permanent fear of water in the child’s sub-conscious mind.
• The terror that he had experienced in the pool never left him. It haunted him for years and years to come.
• He learned swimming but the terror continued.
• His lungs ached, head throbbed and he grew dizzy. He felt paralyzed with fear.
In the short story “Deep Water,” Douglas discusses his dread of the water and how, with perseverance, courage, and hard effort, he finally overcame it. Fear disappeared as soon as he mustered courage. That proves that most of our worries are unfounded. Where there are none, fear makes them. He came to understand that only the fear of dying causes terror in the afterlife. This demonstrates that a thing’s fear can be much more harmful than the thing itself.
Explain these meanings in Hindi
• bottom of my heart meaning in hindi : मेरे दिल की गहराई से
• reached out meaning in hindi : संपर्क किया
• swimming pool meaning in hindi : स्विमिंग पूल
• experiencing meaning in hindi : का सामना
• wiped out meaning in hindi : सफाया
• douglas meaning in hindi : अंधेरा, काला
• flamingoes meaning in hindi : राजहंस
• my strength meaning in hindi : मेरी शक्ति
• tieton meaning in hindi : अगम्य
• aping meaning in hindi : अनुकरण करना
• flailed at the surface meaning in hindi (flailed meaning in hindi) : सतह पर बह गया
• grew meaning in hindi : बढ़ी
• throbbed meaning in hindi : स्फूर्त
• bottom length meaning in hindi : नीचे की लंबाई
• i tried meaning in hindi : मैंने कोशिश की
• could not see meaning in hindi : देख नहीं सका
• mr swimmer in hindi : श्री तैराक
• cd bottom meaning in hindi : सीडी नीचे
• sitting hindi meaning : बैठक
• paddle meaning in hindi : चप्पू
• labour never goes in vain meaning in hindi : मेहनत कभी बेकार नहीं जाती
• how’d it go meaning in hindi : यह कैसे हुआ
Explain these meanings in English
• deep waters meaning[deep water word meaning] : the depth of a water body
• tiny vestiges meaning : miniscule amount of something which is lost
• tension began to slack meaning : reduced worries
• metolius meaning : a river in Oregan, USA
• wading in water meaning : moving across the water
• fishing for landlocked salmon meaning : fishing for a particular variety of fish
• rippling muscles meaning : well defined muscles
• submerged meaning in english : under a medium
• water wings meaning : floats provided to improve buoyancy
• in deep waters idiom meaning : under fear
Conclusion: Class 12 English Deep Water
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