Diving Board By Shel Silverstein Summary

632 Words2 Pages

Fear is an emotion that can control our everyday thoughts and actions. Fear keeps people from experiencing the joy of new things all the time! "I don't want to ride this roller coaster, it looks too scary." "If I jump in the deep end of the pool, I might not be able to get out!" These are just a few things our fear keeps us from experiencing. In the poem, “Diving Board”, the author, Shel
Silverstein illustrates the theme of fear using a young boy scared to dive off a diving board. In society people at times allow fear to grip them firmly in place. Fear of action, fear of change, fear of adventure. Fear stops many people from truly living.
In the short poem, "Diving Board", Silverstein portrays the idea of how fear can paralyze someone’s thoughts. …show more content…

The child is scared of diving into the water so he begins to stall by checking to be sure the board is safe. "You've been up on that diving board, making sure that it's nice and straight." (Stanza 1) Normally and individual does not check to make sure the board is "nice and straight". By stalling and avoiding diving the child shows signs of fear. He is so fearful of diving into the water he may miss the opportunity to try something new and potentially fun.
Throughout the poem, Silverstein over exaggerates the actions the child takes to check the stability and safety of the board. The text shows you he is "stalling" by listing all of the precautions he takes. For example, "You’ve made sure it can stand the weight." (Stanza 4) This is not something parents tell a child to do for safety before walking on a diving board. This is a stall tactic to give the child more time to deal with their fear. "You've made sure that the spring is tight." (Stanza 5) Clearly shows the child is searching for a reason as to why it may not be safe to dive. You can tell, even by his facial expression, that he does not want to dive. Instead of just jumping, the child is over thinking which is making him more fearful. Throughout the context

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