Personification In Anne Fadiman's Under Water

Anne Fadiman’s “Under Water” strikingly relates a particularly morbid, yet surreal experience: the death of a teen, Gary, in a freak canoeing accident. In writing about this particular incident, Fadiman reflects on 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 Gary’s body highlights how individuals attempt to detach themselves from death and refuse to accept the truth of the situation, actions which ultimately lead to a haunting guilt. 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

The wave seems as if it deliberately wants to drain the life from Gary; it follows a progression where it starts to “bend Gary’s body” and eventually goes to “slip his orange life jacket off.” In giving this wave a sense of subtly malicious purpose, Fadiman asserts how Gary is now at the mercy of nature; the water, an agent of this nature, possesses all the power here and dictates what happens. This instance of personification in the context of the passive viewing of Fadiman and other people in the canoes, who “saw the standing wave,” reveals a sense of detachment from death; rather than try and do anything, they simply just watch the overwhelming power of nature take over. Similar to Gary, they are also subjected to the power of the wave, as they are entranced and helplessly paralyzed by