In Kari Strutt’s short story “Touching Bottom”, a young woman

goes through a number of trials that help her achieve self-

awareness.

Starting off in the bathtub, the narrator describes how her

father helps her gain security and confidence while looking

underwater. She starts swimming on her father's push, but

once at the murky river when everyone is swimming, a girl

comes out with a leech on her back and then "for the rest of

the summer i refused to go in the water." She gives up on

swimming, until later in her life, when her dad convinces her

that she should not just give up on it, "I'm sure there are no

leeches at the YMCA, but i'll come and watch, just to be sure."

This shows that the narrator was always protected …show more content…
She has always been reliant on

someone else to make it okay for her.
When she is trying to save Ian in the water, she goes

underwater in the murky water, and "touched bottom", where

she opens her eyes and looks up. It did not feel so bad and she

wanted to rest. She remembers something her father had told

her, "to win, you have to give until it hurts, then give some

more" and then she pushes herself up. When above, she thinks

to herself, “I know about currents now… Swim toward shore

and you battle the current until you die.” When she thought

about what her father had said, she understood that to

overcome her inner battle, she had to do something about it

herself, even when it felt like it was the end. She understood

that the bottom of the water was not dangerous and that it

was her fear and dependence that were holding her back,

physically and mentally. She became self-aware. Aware that

the way her husband was acting was not appropriate, the