Analysis Of The Book ' Once More On The Lake '

In E.B. White’s essay “Once More to the Lake,” he describes spending time with his son at a lake in Maine that he visited as a child. One month every summer he would vacation at this lake with his father. White had dreamt about bringing his son to the lake one day. Upon White’s return to this fabled lake, he realizes it’s not the same lake he visited as a child. He finds that the modern world has made its mark on the lake. To White, what developers in the area call progress he sees as destructive and has impacted the lake negatively. White’s use of figurative language allows him to show to the reader what he felt and how he viewed the changes sprouting up around him. To some, change is viewed as progress while to others it can be devastating and destructive.

E. B. White's story "Once More to the Lake" is about a man who revisits a lake from his childhood to discover that his life has lost placidity.  The man remembers his childhood as he remembers the lake; peaceful and still.  Spending time at the lake as an adult has made the man realize that his life has become unsettling and restless, like the tides of the ocean.  Having brought his son to this place of the past with him, the man makes inevitable comparisons between his own son and his childhood self, and between himself as an adult and the way he remembers his father from his childhood perspective.  The man's experience at the lake with his son is the moment he discovers his own

“Once More to the Lake” is an essay that was published in Harper’s Magazine in 1941 by author E.B. White. The author tells the story through a first-person point of view and describes his experience at a lakefront camp in Maine. The essay shows White going through an internal conflict between perceiving the lake and acting as he did as a child and observing the lake and acting as an adult. White’s experience and views as an adult almost seem identical to his experience as a child until it is effected by his recognition of the technology difference in the boats. Certain moments, such as when the author and his son are fishing, reminds White of when he spent those moments with his father. These nostalgic moments help White realize that even though human life is transient and insignificant, but experiences are eternal. The author sees that even though his revisit is slightly different, his son still has the same experience that he had when he was young.

Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.

Although ethos and logos are important modes as well, this text is most effective due to White’s continuous use of pathos. His thesis statement suggests the urge to return to his childhood memories, “…this feeling got so strong I bought myself a couple of bass hooks and a spinner and returned to the lake where we used to go, for a week’s fishing and to re-visit old haunts” (“Once” para. 1).The audience is also evoked with anticipation to what will happen later. A good example of this is “I took along my son, who had never had any fresh water up his nose and who had seen lily pads only from train windows” (“Once” para. 2). The audience is left asking how the trip with his son will compare to his own memories. White goes on to describe in intricate detail his memory of the lake, cabins, and scenery. He uses visual imagery to allow the audience to place themselves in the setting he has described. “White wants to emphasize the permanence of some things, or at least the memory of some things, despite the continual change that happens in the world”

Annie Dillard is an American Author, she is known for her narrative prose in fields of fiction and

In the Lake of the Woods is a fictional mystery written by Tim O'Brien. Through the book we learn that our lovers, husbands, and wives have qualities beyond what our eyes can see. John Wade and Kathy are in a marriage so obscure that their secrets lead to an emotional downfall. After John Wade loss in his Senatorial Campaign, his feeling towards Kathy take on a whole different outlook. His compulsive and obsessive behavior causes Kathy to distance herself from him. His war experience and emotional trauma are a major cause for his strange behavior. We remain pondering about Kathy's mysterious disappearance, which becomes fatal for her. Possible scenarios are presented in eight

“Once More to the Lake” is a short essay written by E.B. White for his column in the New Yorker, One Man’s Meat. “Once More to the Lake” is a story about a father who is taking his son to his childhood vacation spot. On the trip, the father finds himself inside the memories of his past. Throughout the trip, the father finds differences in the lake from when he was a child. While much of E.B. White 's essay is set in the present, the author explores his own mortality as he looks both to the past and to the future.

First and foremost, authors E.B. White and Billy Collins both use exceptional repetition to portray the themes of their writings “Once More to the Lake” and “Forgetfulness”. In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” the main character expressed his connection to the lake from a young age. Later in life he brings his son and begins to be at a loss for his identity while being at the lake. Similar in theme, the poem “Forgetfulness” is a tale describing the loss of parts of one’s life that used to be known, much like identity loss. Repetition is a major key in both texts for pushing the theme of identity loss. During “Once More to the Lake,” E.B White experienced many moments that

E.B White portrays such a strong message through his writing. A message where all of us can relate to, Once More to the Lake, the lake serves as the setting for both the author's past and present. Early on, White reflects on his own childhood when his father would take him to the lake. He then explains that now he is taking his own son to that very same lake. In this context E.B uses rhetorical devices such as, metaphors, similes, and personification. E.B lets the reader really envision the summary of his trip to the lake in Maine. White has come full circle, accepting his own mortality. In his son's image, he no longer sees himself. He is clear that his son's maturation is a sign that White is getting closer to death. White not only understands

Once More to the Lake tells the story of E.B. White’s journey back to his childhood lake in Maine. White compares the lake of his childhood to the lake of his adulthood. Everything was the same to White when he went with his son. “It was the arrival of this fly that convinced me beyond any doubt that everything was as it always had been, that the years were a mirage and that there had been no years,” (50 Essays pg. 446). The scenery of the lake brought peace and tranquility to White as he realized that he had become his father and his son had become him. White embraces nature at first, but towards the end he fears its mortality. “As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death,” (50 Essays pg. 450). Once More to the Lake is satiated with description and figurative language. White uses heavy detail to capture the reader and get his point across. The natural setting of the lake revealed the essence of life to him.

In the passage “Once More to The Lake” White realizes the similarities and differences of the lake he grew up visiting every summer with his father to how it is now that he’s visiting it with his own son. As he does activities with his soon he seen that most things still remain the same over the long period of time. As said in the passage “I knew it, lying in the bed the first morning, smelling the bedroom, and hearing the boy sneak quietly out and go off along the shore in a boat.” This reminds him of when he was younger going to the lake, the smell of the bedroom and now he’s like his father hearing his son sneak out to go in the boat by himself. The changes he realized was when him and his son goes into the store there were more Coca-Cola

E.B. White’s essay, "Once More to the Lake," ends with a feeling he can only describe as "the chill of death." This at first seemed like a startling way to end the essay. In the beginning, the essay sounded like a narrative about E.B. White recalls his journeys to the lake in Maine. The further I got into his essay, it was clear to see the literary references made to death. For example White’s father rolling over in a canoe in the early morning, signifying old men rolling over in their graves, a common saying. This foreshadowing of death leads me to the conclusion that as White watches his son take over the role of the child he once was, by putting on the wet bathing suit, White assumes the role of the generation before, his father’s role,