NCERT Textbook - Deep Water | English Class 12 PDF Download

 Page 1


Deep Water
About the author
William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine, Minnesota. After 
graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in English and Economics, 
he spent two years teaching high school in Yakima. However, 
he got tired of this and decided to pursue a legal career. He met 
Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend 
to the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of individual 
rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting thirty-six years and 
remains the longest-serving Justice in the history of the court. The 
following excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by William 
O. Douglas. It reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly 
drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks about his 
fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it. Notice 
how the autobiographical part of the selection is used to support 
his discussion of fear.
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  treacherous ??  misadventure 
??  subdued my pride ??  bob to the surface like a cork
??  flailed at the surface ??  curtain of life fell 
??  fishing for landlocked salmon ??  back and forth across the pool
It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided 
to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima that 
offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous. 
Mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind 
the details of each drowning in the river. But the Y.M.C.A. pool 
was safe. It was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and 
while it was nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got 
a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk naked 
into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water 
when I was in it. This started when I was three or four years old and 
3
Chap 3.indd   23 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 2


Deep Water
About the author
William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine, Minnesota. After 
graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in English and Economics, 
he spent two years teaching high school in Yakima. However, 
he got tired of this and decided to pursue a legal career. He met 
Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend 
to the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of individual 
rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting thirty-six years and 
remains the longest-serving Justice in the history of the court. The 
following excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by William 
O. Douglas. It reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly 
drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks about his 
fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it. Notice 
how the autobiographical part of the selection is used to support 
his discussion of fear.
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  treacherous ??  misadventure 
??  subdued my pride ??  bob to the surface like a cork
??  flailed at the surface ??  curtain of life fell 
??  fishing for landlocked salmon ??  back and forth across the pool
It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided 
to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima that 
offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous. 
Mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind 
the details of each drowning in the river. But the Y.M.C.A. pool 
was safe. It was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and 
while it was nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got 
a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk naked 
into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water 
when I was in it. This started when I was three or four years old and 
3
Chap 3.indd   23 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
24/Flamingo
Sketch map not to scale
The Yakima River is a tributary 
of the Columbia River in eastern 
Washington, U.S.A. The state 
is named after the indigenous 
Yakama people. 
THE YAkIMA RIv ER
Chap 3.indd   24 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 3


Deep Water
About the author
William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine, Minnesota. After 
graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in English and Economics, 
he spent two years teaching high school in Yakima. However, 
he got tired of this and decided to pursue a legal career. He met 
Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend 
to the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of individual 
rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting thirty-six years and 
remains the longest-serving Justice in the history of the court. The 
following excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by William 
O. Douglas. It reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly 
drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks about his 
fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it. Notice 
how the autobiographical part of the selection is used to support 
his discussion of fear.
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  treacherous ??  misadventure 
??  subdued my pride ??  bob to the surface like a cork
??  flailed at the surface ??  curtain of life fell 
??  fishing for landlocked salmon ??  back and forth across the pool
It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided 
to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima that 
offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous. 
Mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind 
the details of each drowning in the river. But the Y.M.C.A. pool 
was safe. It was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and 
while it was nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got 
a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk naked 
into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water 
when I was in it. This started when I was three or four years old and 
3
Chap 3.indd   23 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
24/Flamingo
Sketch map not to scale
The Yakima River is a tributary 
of the Columbia River in eastern 
Washington, U.S.A. The state 
is named after the indigenous 
Yakama people. 
THE YAkIMA RIv ER
Chap 3.indd   24 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Deep Water/25
father took me to the beach in California. He and I stood together 
in the surf. I hung on to him, yet the waves knocked me down and 
swept over me. I was buried in water. My breath was gone. I was 
frightened. Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the 
overpowering force of the waves.
My introduction to the Y.M.CA. swimming pool revived 
unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a little while 
I gathered confidence. I paddled with my new water wings, watching 
the other boys and trying to learn by aping them. I did this two or 
three times on different days and was just beginning to feel at ease 
in the water when the misadventure happened.
I went to the pool when no one else was there. The place was quiet. 
The water was still, and the tiled bottom was as white and clean as a 
bathtub. I was timid about going in alone, so I sat on the side of the 
pool to wait for others.
I had not been there long when in came a big bruiser of a 
boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair on his chest. 
He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs and arms that 
showed rippling muscles. He yelled, “Hi, Skinny! How’d you like to 
be ducked?”
With that he picked me up and tossed me into the deep end. I 
landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to 
the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet frightened out of my wits. 
On the way down I planned: When my feet hit the bottom, I would 
make a big jump, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to 
the edge of the pool.
It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more like 
ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were ready to burst. 
But when my feet hit bottom I summoned all my strength and made 
what I thought was a great spring upwards. I imagined I would bob 
to the surface like a cork. Instead, I came up slowly. I opened my 
eyes and saw nothing but water — water that had a dirty yellow 
tinge to it. I grew panicky. I reached up as if to grab a rope and my 
hands clutched only at water. I was suffocating. I tried to yell but 
no sound came out. Then my eyes and nose came out of the water 
— but not my mouth.
Chap 3.indd   25 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 4


Deep Water
About the author
William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine, Minnesota. After 
graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in English and Economics, 
he spent two years teaching high school in Yakima. However, 
he got tired of this and decided to pursue a legal career. He met 
Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend 
to the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of individual 
rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting thirty-six years and 
remains the longest-serving Justice in the history of the court. The 
following excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by William 
O. Douglas. It reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly 
drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks about his 
fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it. Notice 
how the autobiographical part of the selection is used to support 
his discussion of fear.
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  treacherous ??  misadventure 
??  subdued my pride ??  bob to the surface like a cork
??  flailed at the surface ??  curtain of life fell 
??  fishing for landlocked salmon ??  back and forth across the pool
It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided 
to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima that 
offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous. 
Mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind 
the details of each drowning in the river. But the Y.M.C.A. pool 
was safe. It was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and 
while it was nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got 
a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk naked 
into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water 
when I was in it. This started when I was three or four years old and 
3
Chap 3.indd   23 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
24/Flamingo
Sketch map not to scale
The Yakima River is a tributary 
of the Columbia River in eastern 
Washington, U.S.A. The state 
is named after the indigenous 
Yakama people. 
THE YAkIMA RIv ER
Chap 3.indd   24 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Deep Water/25
father took me to the beach in California. He and I stood together 
in the surf. I hung on to him, yet the waves knocked me down and 
swept over me. I was buried in water. My breath was gone. I was 
frightened. Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the 
overpowering force of the waves.
My introduction to the Y.M.CA. swimming pool revived 
unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a little while 
I gathered confidence. I paddled with my new water wings, watching 
the other boys and trying to learn by aping them. I did this two or 
three times on different days and was just beginning to feel at ease 
in the water when the misadventure happened.
I went to the pool when no one else was there. The place was quiet. 
The water was still, and the tiled bottom was as white and clean as a 
bathtub. I was timid about going in alone, so I sat on the side of the 
pool to wait for others.
I had not been there long when in came a big bruiser of a 
boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair on his chest. 
He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs and arms that 
showed rippling muscles. He yelled, “Hi, Skinny! How’d you like to 
be ducked?”
With that he picked me up and tossed me into the deep end. I 
landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to 
the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet frightened out of my wits. 
On the way down I planned: When my feet hit the bottom, I would 
make a big jump, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to 
the edge of the pool.
It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more like 
ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were ready to burst. 
But when my feet hit bottom I summoned all my strength and made 
what I thought was a great spring upwards. I imagined I would bob 
to the surface like a cork. Instead, I came up slowly. I opened my 
eyes and saw nothing but water — water that had a dirty yellow 
tinge to it. I grew panicky. I reached up as if to grab a rope and my 
hands clutched only at water. I was suffocating. I tried to yell but 
no sound came out. Then my eyes and nose came out of the water 
— but not my mouth.
Chap 3.indd   25 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
26/Flamingo
I flailed at the surface of the water, swallowed and choked. I 
tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed 
and rigid. A great force was pulling me under. I screamed, but only 
the water heard me. I had started on the long journey back to the 
bottom of the pool.
I struck at the water as I went down, expending my strength 
as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. I had lost all my 
breath. My lungs ached, my head throbbed. I was getting dizzy. 
But I remembered the strategy — I would spring from the bottom 
of the pool and come like a cork to the surface. I would lie flat on 
the water, strike out with my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then 
I would get to the edge of the pool and be safe.
I went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing 
but water with a yellow glow — dark water that one could not see 
through.
And then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that knows no 
understanding, terror that knows no control, terror that no one 
can understand who has not experienced it. I was shrieking under 
water. I was paralysed under water — stiff, rigid with fear. Even the 
screams in my throat were frozen. Only my heart, and the pounding 
in my head, said that I was still alive.
And then in the midst of the terror came a touch of reason. 
I must remember to jump when I hit the bottom. At last I felt the 
tiles under me. My toes reached out as if to grab them. I jumped 
with everything I had.
But the jump made no difference. The water was still around 
me. I looked for ropes, ladders, water wings. Nothing but water. 
A mass of yellow water held me. Stark terror took an even deeper 
hold on me, like a great charge of electricity. I shook and trembled 
with fright. My arms wouldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t move. I tried 
to call for help, to call for mother. Nothing happened.
And then, strangely, there was light. I was coming out of the 
awful yellow water. At least my eyes were. My nose was almost 
out too.
Then I started down a third time. I sucked for air and got water. 
The yellowish light was going out.
Chap 3.indd   26 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 5


Deep Water
About the author
William Douglas (1898-1980) was born in Maine, Minnesota. After 
graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in English and Economics, 
he spent two years teaching high school in Yakima. However, 
he got tired of this and decided to pursue a legal career. He met 
Franklin D. Roosevelt at Yale and became an adviser and friend 
to the President. Douglas was a leading advocate of individual 
rights. He retired in 1975 with a term lasting thirty-six years and 
remains the longest-serving Justice in the history of the court. The 
following excerpt is taken from Of Men and Mountains by William 
O. Douglas. It reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly 
drowned in a swimming pool. In this essay he talks about his 
fear of water and thereafter, how he finally overcame it. Notice 
how the autobiographical part of the selection is used to support 
his discussion of fear.
Notice these words and expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  treacherous ??  misadventure 
??  subdued my pride ??  bob to the surface like a cork
??  flailed at the surface ??  curtain of life fell 
??  fishing for landlocked salmon ??  back and forth across the pool
It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided 
to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y.M.C.A. in Yakima that 
offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous. 
Mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind 
the details of each drowning in the river. But the Y.M.C.A. pool 
was safe. It was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and 
while it was nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got 
a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk naked 
into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
From the beginning, however, I had an aversion to the water 
when I was in it. This started when I was three or four years old and 
3
Chap 3.indd   23 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
24/Flamingo
Sketch map not to scale
The Yakima River is a tributary 
of the Columbia River in eastern 
Washington, U.S.A. The state 
is named after the indigenous 
Yakama people. 
THE YAkIMA RIv ER
Chap 3.indd   24 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Deep Water/25
father took me to the beach in California. He and I stood together 
in the surf. I hung on to him, yet the waves knocked me down and 
swept over me. I was buried in water. My breath was gone. I was 
frightened. Father laughed, but there was terror in my heart at the 
overpowering force of the waves.
My introduction to the Y.M.CA. swimming pool revived 
unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But in a little while 
I gathered confidence. I paddled with my new water wings, watching 
the other boys and trying to learn by aping them. I did this two or 
three times on different days and was just beginning to feel at ease 
in the water when the misadventure happened.
I went to the pool when no one else was there. The place was quiet. 
The water was still, and the tiled bottom was as white and clean as a 
bathtub. I was timid about going in alone, so I sat on the side of the 
pool to wait for others.
I had not been there long when in came a big bruiser of a 
boy, probably eighteen years old. He had thick hair on his chest. 
He was a beautiful physical specimen, with legs and arms that 
showed rippling muscles. He yelled, “Hi, Skinny! How’d you like to 
be ducked?”
With that he picked me up and tossed me into the deep end. I 
landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to 
the bottom. I was frightened, but not yet frightened out of my wits. 
On the way down I planned: When my feet hit the bottom, I would 
make a big jump, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to 
the edge of the pool.
It seemed a long way down. Those nine feet were more like 
ninety, and before I touched bottom my lungs were ready to burst. 
But when my feet hit bottom I summoned all my strength and made 
what I thought was a great spring upwards. I imagined I would bob 
to the surface like a cork. Instead, I came up slowly. I opened my 
eyes and saw nothing but water — water that had a dirty yellow 
tinge to it. I grew panicky. I reached up as if to grab a rope and my 
hands clutched only at water. I was suffocating. I tried to yell but 
no sound came out. Then my eyes and nose came out of the water 
— but not my mouth.
Chap 3.indd   25 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
26/Flamingo
I flailed at the surface of the water, swallowed and choked. I 
tried to bring my legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed 
and rigid. A great force was pulling me under. I screamed, but only 
the water heard me. I had started on the long journey back to the 
bottom of the pool.
I struck at the water as I went down, expending my strength 
as one in a nightmare fights an irresistible force. I had lost all my 
breath. My lungs ached, my head throbbed. I was getting dizzy. 
But I remembered the strategy — I would spring from the bottom 
of the pool and come like a cork to the surface. I would lie flat on 
the water, strike out with my arms, and thrash with my legs. Then 
I would get to the edge of the pool and be safe.
I went down, down, endlessly. I opened my eyes. Nothing 
but water with a yellow glow — dark water that one could not see 
through.
And then sheer, stark terror seized me, terror that knows no 
understanding, terror that knows no control, terror that no one 
can understand who has not experienced it. I was shrieking under 
water. I was paralysed under water — stiff, rigid with fear. Even the 
screams in my throat were frozen. Only my heart, and the pounding 
in my head, said that I was still alive.
And then in the midst of the terror came a touch of reason. 
I must remember to jump when I hit the bottom. At last I felt the 
tiles under me. My toes reached out as if to grab them. I jumped 
with everything I had.
But the jump made no difference. The water was still around 
me. I looked for ropes, ladders, water wings. Nothing but water. 
A mass of yellow water held me. Stark terror took an even deeper 
hold on me, like a great charge of electricity. I shook and trembled 
with fright. My arms wouldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t move. I tried 
to call for help, to call for mother. Nothing happened.
And then, strangely, there was light. I was coming out of the 
awful yellow water. At least my eyes were. My nose was almost 
out too.
Then I started down a third time. I sucked for air and got water. 
The yellowish light was going out.
Chap 3.indd   26 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Deep Water/27
Then all effort ceased. I relaxed. Even my legs felt limp; and 
a blackness swept over my brain. It wiped out fear; it wiped out 
terror. There was no more panic. It was quiet and peaceful. Nothing 
to be afraid of. This is nice... to be drowsy... to go to sleep... no 
need to jump... too tired to jump... it’s nice to be carried gently... 
to float along in space... tender arms around me... tender arms like 
Mother’s... now I must go to sleep...
I crossed to oblivion, and the curtain of life fell.
The next I remember I was lying on 
my stomach beside the pool, vomiting. 
The chap that threw me in was saying, 
“But I was only fooling.” Someone said, 
“The kid nearly died. Be all right now. 
Let’s carry him to the locker room.”
Several hours later, I walked home. 
I was weak and trembling. I shook and 
cried when I lay on my bed. I couldn’t 
eat that night. For days a haunting fear 
was in my heart. The slightest exertion 
upset me, making me wobbly in the knees and sick to my stomach.
I never went back to the pool. I feared water. I avoided it 
whenever I could.
 A few years later when I came to know the waters of the 
Cascades, I wanted to get into them. And whenever I did — whether 
I was wading the Tieton or Bumping River or bathing in Warm 
Lake of the Goat Rocks — the terror that had seized me in the pool 
would come back. It would take possession of me completely. My 
legs would become paralysed. Icy horror would grab my heart.
This handicap stayed with me as the years rolled by. In canoes 
on Maine lakes fishing for landlocked salmon, bass fishing in 
New Hampshire, trout fishing on the Deschutes and Metolius in 
Oregon, fishing for salmon on the Columbia, at Bumping Lake in 
the Cascades — wherever I went, the haunting fear of the water 
followed me. It ruined my fishing trips; deprived me of the joy of 
canoeing, boating, and swimming.
I used every way I knew to overcome this fear, but it held me 
firmly in its grip. Finally, one October, I decided to get an instructor 
1. What is the “misadventure” that 
William Douglas speaks about?
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?
3. How did this experience affect 
him?
Chap 3.indd   27 12/11/2024   11:19:10 AM
Reprint 2025-26