Once More To The Lake Analysis

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

: Larchwood Lake may not ever be the same again. The story about Larchwood Lake is not that uncommon. Without doing extensive research into possible things that could occur by lowering the lake level, the Larchwood Lake Homeowner’s Association destroyed the very thing they were trying to protect. Carelessness and poor planning are not the only root causes however. There are a number of reasons that led to the degradation of Larchwood Lake that happen to relate to more macro level environmental issues. Those reasons are poorly designed environmental policy created by the E.P.A., poor understanding of lake ecology by the managers of the land, and false confidence in poorly planned ideas. By looking at how these factors contributed to the degradation of the lake, hopefully we will be able to make more ecological sound decisions in the future.

“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.

The short story, Once More to the Lake, is about a father who takes his son on a camping trip to a lake in Maine. The father sees that the camp is exactly how he remembers it as he goes through time of reminiscence. As he goes back to nostalgic memories, he sees, through his son, that the camp is the same as when he was a child; however, his time at the camp reveals the true meaning of what time is. Time is a continuing process of the past, present, and future.

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”

First off, “Once More to the Lake” and “Forgetfulness” each utilize nostalgic diction in order to generate the theme of annihilated time. In “Once More to the Lake,” the narrator takes his son to a lake in Maine that he always went to as a child. Throughout the story, he mentions how he sees himself in his son, hence getting him caught up with how quickly time flew by. In more detail, he chooses specific words to describe these feelings, such as “sustain the illusion” (White 2) and “revisit old haunts” (White 1). By using these specific words to explain his experience with his son, it makes it seem both natural and unnatural, similar to the passing of forgotten time. Moreover, these specific

E.B White, author of “Once More to the Lake” explores the dynamic relationship between father and son to convey the power of memory and the inevitable chill of mortality. The symbol of the dragonfly and the lake creates a sense of duality while introducing subtle changes throughout the essay.

Authors often create texts that share common themes to teach readers importance of certain aspects and hardships of life. Theme may be expressed through an author’s use of rhetorical devices and many other contributing factors such as figurative language and repetition. The essay, “Once More to the Lake” written by E.B. White and the poem “Forgetfulness” written by Billy Collins, both contain a theme of identity loss. In “Once More to the Lake” E.B White connects to a lake at young age and when returning with his son years later is unable to identify himself. In similar theme “Forgetfulness” describes different factors of human life and everyday things being forgotten and lost. Both White and Collins use repetition and metaphors to further push the theme of identity loss throughout the texts.

Why would this be significant? When reading the line, it sounds as though White is thinking these memories as he is writing them. It is like he is reliving this moment and the memories are spilling out of his brain as he puts them down on paper. As he is writing, the memories are being recalled abruptly. They are separated by a simple “and” in the middle of the thought. He is very descriptive. This shows that he does not want to leave any details unattended. He wants to be able to remember and share these fond moments of his childhood. The memories come in many fragments throughout the paper, similar to how we recall memories. When looking on the past, events come to us in portions, small details turn into a larger, more descriptive event. White writes like a storyteller. He elaborately describes important details to provide imagery for the audience. He wants us to join his memory and relive the adventure with him.

Imagery, detail, and symbolism play a crucial role in this work. Imagery has the function of painting a picture of the situation in the reader’s mind so that he or she is able to develop a version of the story individually. It makes the reading a more personalized experience that helps the reader to understand what’s going on. When O’Brien was just about to escape to Canada to avoid being drafted, he described the scene that was presented in front of him. “The shoreline was dense with brush and timber. I could see tiny red berries on the bushes.” In this quote, the reader can visualize the setting of the lake where he has to make his life-changing decision. It appeals to the visual sense by describing the shoreline and even the sense of

B. White, serves its expressive purpose, using plenty of emotion, such as joy and happiness, showing the author’s value of the past, how he defines himself as a family man, and uses subjective language. He also uses a literary purpose, to show that the essay is authentic with verisimilitude, make the essay more entertaining with tension, provide artistic unity with a beginning, middle, end, and a theme, and aesthetic language to add a certain beauty in the way he writes. The primary pattern followed by the author is the descriptive pattern, describing the lake as it was when he was a child and the way it was on his trip with his son. At times the author uses a comparison-contrast pattern, to show the differences and similarities between his experiences as a child at the lake and as an adult, The author of this essay uses expressive and literary purposes, and descriptive and comparison-contrast patterns, to allow the reader to know what he is feeling and thinking, while at the same time feel like they are there themselves with the use of his descriptions of the lake. His use of the comparison-contrast pattern allows the reader to have a better understanding of the differences the author is experiencing during his visit to the lake with his son. Altogether, it is a very well written

“Big Two Hearted River”, a semi-autobiographical short story by Ernest Hemingway, is a story about the main character, Nick, returning to Big Two Hearted River in order to recover from his inner wounds. Nick Adams goes on a journey alone in nature for a therapeutic purpose as he suffers from PTSD. However, Hemingway purposely avoided any direct discussion regarding to Nick’s mental wounds. The absence of the discussion is contributed by Hemingway’s writing style, the Iceberg principle. Hemingway focuses explicitly on what occurs on the surface without mentioning actual theme. This indicates that the theme of self-healing cannot be uncovered by simply looking at the text itself. In order to comprehend the actual theme of the story, the character development of Nick must be examined. This is possible since Nick Adams is a recurring character of Hemingway’s stories. The two preceding stories of “Big Two Hearted River”, “Now I lay me” and “A Way you’ll Never Be”, directly discusses Nick’s suffering from shell-shock and how he comforts himself by returning to Big Two Hearted river in his mind. The two short stories will be analyzed and connected to “Big Two Hearted River” in the essay first. This will provide a strong understanding of Nick’s psyche and the reason behind his return to nature. Then, “Big Two Hearted River” the short story itself will be carefully analyzed.