note making of deep water

Note- making

1.      Introduction

(a)autobiography

(b)author’s fear of water- when, why

(b) how he finally overcame it.

(d) moral

2.      Author’s Aversion to Water

(a)started when he was three or four yrs. old.

(i) beach in California with his father when 4 yrs old

(ii) knocked down by waves

(iii) buried in water, breath gone, frightened.

(b)`Misadventure’ at the YMCA

(i)thrown in pool

(ii) couldn’t come up

(iii) almost drowned

3.      Impact of YMCA event

 (a) weak and trembling

(b) shook and cried when he lay on his bed

(c) for days a haunting fear remained in his heart.

(d) the slightest exertion upset his stomach, made him wobbly in the knee and sick in the stomach

(e) never went back to pool

4. Subsequent fears

(a) the fear remained in a river or pool; legs would become paralyzed.

(b) icy horror would grab his heart.

(c) deprived Douglas of enjoying

(i)water sports

(ii) fishing trips

(iii) canoeing

5.   Conquering his fear

(a) Engaged an instr. to learn swimming.

(b) the instr made him practice five days a week, an hour every day

(c) put a belt around him.

(d) a rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable

(e) instr. held on to the end of the rope.

(f) the author went back and forth several times each day.

 (g) took 3 mths. to learn

(h) instr. taught him to put his face under water and exhale

      (i) to raise his nose and inhale

(j) instr. made him kick with his legs

 (k) piece by piece he finally learnt how to swim

6.   Final victory over fear

(a)though the author had learnt to swim, he still felt that the old fear would grip him again.

(b)Went to lk. Wentworth-swam two miles across the lk.

(c) swam the crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke and backstroke.

(d)the old sensation returned in miniature.

(e) went up the Tieton to Conrad Meadows, up the Conrad Creek Trail to Meade Glacier, and camped by the Warm Lake.

(f)swam across to the other shore and back

 7.  Draws a larger meaning from this exp.

 (a) in death there is peace

(b) there is terror only in the fear of death

 (c)  the narrator had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it can produce; the will to live grew in him.

Abbreviations: Yrs                          :               years Instr.                     :               instructor Mths                     :               months Lk                            :               lake