Understanding the text
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.
Answer:
2. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
Answer:
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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?
Answer:
Talking about the text
1. “All we have to fear is fear itself”. Have you ever had a fear that
you have now overcome? Share your experience with your
partner.
Answer:
2. Find and narrate other stories about conquest of fear and what
people have said about courage. For example, you can recall Nelson
Mandela’s struggle for freedom, his perseverance to achieve his
mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor as depicted
in his autobiography. The story We’re Not Afraid To Die, which you
have read in Class XI, is an apt example of how courage and
optimism helped a family survive under the direst stress.
Thinking about language
If someone else had narrated Douglas’s experience, how would
it have differed from this account? Write out a sample
paragraph or paragraphs from this text from the point of view
of a third person or observer, to find out which style of narration
would you consider to be more effective? Why?
Writing
1. Doing well in any activity, for example a sport, music, dance or
painting, riding a motorcycle or a car, involves a great deal of
struggle. Most of us are very nervous to begin with until
gradually we overcome our fears and perform well.
Write an essay of about five paragraphs recounting such an
experience. Try to recollect minute details of what caused the
fear, your feelings, the encouragement you got from others or
the criticism.
You could begin with the last sentence of the essay you have
just read — “At last I felt released — free to walk the trails and
climb the peaks and to brush aside fear.”
2. Write a short letter to someone you know about your having
learnt to do something new.