William Douglas

Douglas is presented as an honest, self-analytical man who is willing to expose his own weakness in order to explain how he overcame it. As a boy he is timid around water, partly because of an even earlier fright at the seaside when a wave knocked him over. Yet the defining trait of his character is not this timidity but his refusal to remain its prisoner. After the near-drowning leaves him with a fear that spoils his outdoor life for years, he makes a calm, adult decision to root it out. He shows remarkable determination and method: he engages an instructor, submits to slow and repetitive training, and does not lose heart when terror keeps creeping back. Even more telling is what he does after the lessons end. Not fully trusting his cure, he deliberately seeks out deep water alone, swims across lakes and provokes the old fear so that he can face it down completely. This mixture of humility about his weakness and iron re …