Case Study Chapter 3 Deep Water (William Douglas)

Please refer to Chapter 3 Deep Water (William Douglas) Case Study Questions with answers provided below. We have provided Case Study Questions for Class 12 English for all chapters as per CBSE, NCERT and KVS examination guidelines. These case based questions are expected to come in your exams this year. Please practise these case study based Class 12 English Questions and answers to get more marks in examinations.

Case Study Questions Chapter 3 Deep Water (William Douglas)

Read the passage given below and answer the following questions.
The experience had a deep meaning for me, as only those who have known stark terror and conquered it can appreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we have to fear is fear itself..” Because I had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it can produce, the will to love somehow grew in intensity.

Question. Which one of the following represents the terror that fear of something produces?
A. giving up and passing into oblivion
B. feeling paralysed and screaming
C. shivering while executing a plan
D. swimming in deep water bodies

Question. What is the meaning of the word ‘stark’ as per the lesson?
A.It is the name of a minor character.
B.It refers to something that is dark.
C.It is a word used to mean complete.
D.It is a synonym of immense courage.

Question. What are the author’s views about death?
A. It is terrifying and should be feared.
B. It is part of the general process of life.
C. It should be welcomed with open arms.
D. It is painless and non-intimidating.

The experience had a deep meaning for me, as only those who have known stark terror and conquered it can appreciate. In death there is peace. There is terror only in the fear of death, as Roosevelt knew when he said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.”

Question. The experience the author talking about is of
A. the experience of overcoming the fear of water.
B. the experience of swimming in different water bodies.
C. the experience of taking the challenge of climbing.
D. the experience of hiring an instructor.

Question. There is peace in death because
A. death is soothing.
B. death is devoid of any feeling.
C. death is less painful than life
D. death takes us to a pain-less world.

Question. “All we have to fear is fear itself”—This statement can be better explained by which of the following statements?
A. Fear is a state of mind and it can be conquered.
B. Fear in itself is really frightening.
C. We should only fear the fear.
D. Fear has no substance in it and hence baseless.

Question. Which of the following words is close to the meaning of the word STARK?
A. Invincible
B. Sharp
C. Terrible
D. Sheer

Read the passage given below and answer the following questions.
A few years later when I came to know the water 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 the 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.

Question.What do you infer from the line- ‘It would take possession of me completely’?
A. The author used to be filled with fear.
B. The author owned fear in that moment.
C. Someone took over author’s matters.
D. Terror became author’s property.

Question. Personification is a figure of speech. In which of the following sentences can it be found?
a. I was wading the Tieton or Bumping River.
b. My legs would become paralysed.
c. Terror that had seized me in the pool.
d. Icy horror would grab my heart.
A. 1 and 2
B. 2 and 3
C. 4 and 1
D. 3 and 4

Question.. What was the terror that had seized the author in the pool?
A. being swept over by waves and buried in water
B. the fear of death and suffocation in a water body
C. being thrown into the pool by the bruiser of a boy
D. the inability to bathe in or wade through water

Read the passage given below and answer the following questions-
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. 

Question. Who does the word “I “refer to?
A. Trainer
B. William Douglas
C. Father
D. mother

Question. When did the writer feel suffocated?
A. when he went into water
B. when he was vomiting beside the pool
C. when he was hungry at night
D. none of the above

Question. What has the writer compared his legs with as he was drowning?
A. dead legs
B. dead weights
C. dead body
D. none of the above

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.

Question. How did the author try to learn swimming?
A. By reading self-help books
B. By imitating his friends
C. By watching dolphins
D. From a coach

Question. Douglas would have soon become a confident swimmer had the misadventure not happened. Which words/phrases support this?
A. feel at ease
B. learn by aping
C. Gathered confidence.
D. watching the other boys

Read the extract given below and choose correct option for the questions that follow.
The instructor put a belt around me. A rope attached to the belt went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope, and we went back and forth, back and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. On each trip across the pool a bit of the panic seized me. Each time the instructor relaxed his hold on the rope and I went under, some of the old terror returned and my legs froze. It was three months before the tension began to slack.

Question. The instructor here is…
A. Resourceful
B. Patient
C. Methodical
D. All the above

Question. What is meant by Tension began to slack?
A. Tension started ebbing
B. Tension started increasing
C. Tension remained stable
D. None of the above

Question. ‘and we went back and forth, back and forth across the pool, hour after hour, day after day, week after week.’. What is the attitude of the narrator here?
A. Lazy and grudging
B. Tired and fed up
C. Enthusiastic and earnest
D. Cursing and bitter

Read the passage and answer the following questions.
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 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.

Question. What is the story Deep Water speaking about?
A. Fear of water and the way to overcome it
B. Fear of people
C. Fear of dogs
D. Fear of swimming

Question. In which field William O Douglas became a celebrated personality in U S A?
A. In politics
B. In Swimming
C. In Judiciary
D. In Music

Question. What does the story Deep Water signify?
A. Aesthetic sense
B. Depth of Ocean
C. Depth of water
D. How to overcome ingrained sense of fear in mind.

Question. At the age of 3 or 4 Douglas visited the beach with his father for water sports, surfing. A mishap had taken place with him. What caused a terror in his heart then?
A. The sight of the sea waves
B. The overpowering force of the waves
C. The colour of the water
D. All of these

Then all efforts 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….

Question. What state was the poet going through?
A. Unconscious state of mind.
B. Subconscious state of mind.
C. Conscious state of mind.
D. physical paralysis.

Question. The poet wanted to sleep because
A. he felt drowsy.
B. he was fond of sleeping.
C. he was brutally exhausted fighting fear.
D. he labored a lot and need a short rest.

Question. “tender arms like mother’s” refers to
A. delicate hands of his mother
B. affectionate and protective hands of his mother
C. loving company of his mother
D. he sensed that he touched his mother’s hands in the heavenly abode.

Question. Which of the following words stands opposite to the meaning of the word PANIC?
A. trauma
B. aversion
C. repose
D. affright

Read the passage and answer the following questions.
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.

Question. At the time of drowning a series of emotions ran through his heart and he made in that confused state of mind a plan to come to surface. What plans did he make to come to the surface of the pool?
A. Tried to jump and push himself up
B. Shouted
C. Cried aloud
D. Shouted “help”

Question. What were the series of emotions and fears that Douglas experienced when he was thrown into the pool?
A. Fear
B. Confidence
C. Overconfidence
D. Mixed feelings of confidence and fear

Question. The experience of drowning in the YMCA Pool left a profound impact on the narrator. How did this experience affect the author?
A. Became fearless
B. Confident
C. Overconfident
D. Became hydrophobic

Question. At first, why was the writer not much frightened when he was thrown into the pool?
A. Because he was sleeping
B. Because he was intoxicated
C. Because he thought that the lifeguard would help him to come to his rescue
D. Because of confidence

Question. What lesson did Douglas learn from his experience of drowning learning to swim?
A. Learnt swimming
B. Love for swimming
C. Swimming is not difficult
D. Face the fear

Question. The statement “I crossed to oblivion, and the curtain of life fell” suggests-
a. The narrator breathed his last
b. The narrator fell unconscious
c. The curtain of narrator’s life fell
d. The narrator was on verge of death
A. A is right
B. B and D is right
C. C is right
D. A B C and D are right.