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CBSE Class 12 Deep Water Notes: Here, students can find revision notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 3, Deep Water. Find here full and detailed handwritten notes and a summary of Deep Water.
Deep Water Class 12 Notes: Here students can find handwritten revision notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 3, Deep Water. You can also find attached a free PDF download link for easy and free download of complete revision notes for Class 12 English Chapter Deep Water. Full notes presented here have been prepared by our subject matter experts, as per the updated and revised CBSE Syllabus 2024. Students appearing for the CBSE Class 12 English Board Exam Paper must consider these notes for preparation for the examination.
English is a core subject in Class 12. You don’t have an option of choosing, it is mandatory for everyone from the English Board. It is also said that English is a scoring subject and has great potential to enhance your overall score. Thus, students should not lag behind in gaining marks in English. The English Board Exam Question Paper will be designed in a manner such that it assess the writing and creative skills of a student along with grammar and textual content test.
Related:
CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2023-2024
CBSE Class 12 English Sample Paper 2023-2024
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Flamingo (Prose) All chapters
Revision Notes for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (Prose) Chapter 3 Deep Water are:
About the Author:
William Douglas is the author of CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo (prose) Chapter 3, Deep Water. He was born in Maine, Minnesota. After teaching for two years in a high school, he met Franklin D. Roosevelt to pursue a career in legal. He then became the adviser and friend to the President. He became a lawyer of individual rights and got retired after 36 years of brilliant service. He is also known for being the longest-serving judge in the history of the court.
About the Story/ Synopsis of the Story
The story is based on the autobiography of the author where he describes his near-death experience with water while drowning in the swimming pool. The author explains how he developed his aversion to water and how he overcame it. The most crucial part of the story is the description of his experience when he was drowning inside the swimming pool. To know how he came across such a life-threatening incident and how he overcame his fear of water, check the summary below.
Theme of Deep Water
Deep Water is an autobiographical piece that narrates an important incident from the author’s life. He talks about his fear of water, how did he develop that aversion, what was the incident that shook him in and out, and how did he overcome that fear. The story is purely based on the incidents from the author’s life.
Character Sketches:
William Douglas (Author)- He was a young, brave, keen learner, and high-spirited person. Despite his aversion to water, he was determined to learn to swim and challenge his enemy, water. He was mentally strong since he was calm and composed, and had ideas to get back to the surface of water while drowning. He did not panic. He was sort of emotional since he cried after getting back home and was afraid of even looking at it for months. He was firm on his words since he learned to swim at the end.
Summary (Important Points)
- When Douglas was 10 or 11 years old, he decided to learn how to swim. The Yakima river at his place was quite treacherous and thus he opted for the YMCA Swimming pool to grab the opportunity.
- He explains that his aversion towards water began when he was three years old and had gone to California beach with his parents, for surfing. While doing the activity, he was knocked down by the waves and buried in water which instilled the fear of water in his mind.
- As he began learning to swim at the YMCA pool, it brought back the memories of childhood thus leaving him under-confident. But eventually, that changed and he was starting to get at ease with water.
- One day he went to the pool and found out that no one was there. As he was observing the white tiles of the swimming pool, a bruiser boy in his teens, came and ducked him inside the water. Douglas landed in the sitting position.
- The boy threw him at the end of the swimming pool which was 9 feet deep. As he went down, he prepared himself to jump up to the surface as soon as he touched the ground. Unfortunately, that could not happen.
- In the next few paragraphs, he describes the next three attempts of jumping up to the surface in detail.
- The first attempt was described in this manner. “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”.
- The second attempt took place in this manner. “But the jump made no difference. The water was still around me. I looked for ropes, ladders, and 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 I tried to call for help, to call for mother. Nothing happened”.
- He remembers his mother at this moment since her mother is the symbol of comfort and peace. At that moment, he wanted peace, he was looking for something that could get him some comfort, that could help him and bring him back to the water. This line explains the human tendency to remember someone so special at a moment of need, like a mother. Someone you have full faith and trust in, someone you can rely on, someone who gives you peace, someone who brings you comfort. And mother is the amalgamation of all of the above.
- The third attempt has been described by Douglas with these words, “I sucked for air and got water. The yellowish light was going out. 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”.
- He was feeling sleepy and around his mother’s arms which are again a reflection of peace and comfort. These lines describe the amount of stress, pain, and fear he was going through. He felt like he had crossed the oblivion, which means that he had taken the final abode.
- Someone got him from the swimming pool and saved his life, but the nightmares of the incident kept haunting him for years. The fear deprived him of fishing, boating, swimming, and having fun around the water.
- Then he decided to learn to swim and conquer his fear. After a few months, he learned to swim and challenged himself to swim across various locations and when alone.
- He describes his achievement through beautiful lines, “Trying to scare me, eh? Well, here’s to you! Look!” And off I’d go for another length of the pool”, “Well, Mr. Terror, what do you think you can do to me?”
Important Lines from the Text with their meanings
1. All we have to fear is fear itself.
Answer. This line explains that there is terror or fear about anything when we are afraid of it. The fear is fear about something. Douglas through his misadventure realized that there is terror in the fear of death whereas death is peaceful. Thus, he says that more than the incident or thing, people have a fear of the thing more than the thing itself.
To complete Revision Notes of Class 12 English Deep Water in PDF, click on the link below
Also Find:
CBSE Class 12 Syllabus All Subjects 2023-2024
CBSE Class 12 Deleted Syllabus All Subjects 2023-2024
CBSE Class 12 Sample Paper All Subjects 2023-2024
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 All Subjects
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