Anne Fadiman Under Water Summary
Anne Fadiman’s “Under Water” strikingly relates a particularly morbid, yet surreal experience: the death of a teen, Gary, in a freak canoeing accident. From writing about this particular incident, Fadiman reflects her own development and maturation as a person, from an “impatient” person to one who is “no longer in a hurry.” However, in a more general sense, the essay also deals with how people react to death. In the seventh paragraph of “Under Water,” Fadiman’s use of personification and the use of a metaphor describing the body of Gary highlights how individuals insistently attempt to detach themselves from death, refusing to accept the truth of the situation, ultimately damaging themselves in the process. Fadiman’s use of personification highlights the individual inability to take responsibility in recognizing death. While waiting for the instructors to come, Fadiman and the others in the canoes watch Gary’s body move in the water.
“Then we saw the standing wave bend Gary’s body forward at the waist, push his face underwater, stretch his arms in front of him, and slip his orange life jacket off his shoulders.”
In this moment, the
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In using “he,” Fadiman attempts to still assign some degree of life, a sense of being, to Gary; this starkly contrasts the lifeless “flayed skin.” The specific reference to the image of “St. Bartholomew in the Sistine Chapel” further highlights this maintained denial of reality. In the context of the entire painting, Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, the flayed skin is actually held by St. Bartholomew himself - he carries his own lifeless husk (The Last Judgement). Given this context, the boundary between life and death becomes all the more blurred. This allusion parallels Fadiman’s reaction in this moment; she cannot truly commit to one, consistent image of Gary in this situation, unable to recognize the reality of the
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