Once More To The Lake Summary

Scott Russell Sanders’ “Under the Influence” is about a family growing up with alcoholism, mental and physical abuse. When Sanders was very young, he didn’t recognize that his father was an alcoholic, but as he grew older, he saw the bloodshot eyes, hiding alcohol, the deceptions, and the dual personalities of an alcoholic. “My father drank. He drank as a gut-punched boxer gasps for breath, as a starving dog gobbles food—compulsively, secretly, in pain and trembling.” (215). Sanders story starts at the end, where his father dies from alcoholism. The turmoil and fear this family suffered because of their father’s alcoholism, is a story a lot of families are familiar with.

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.

Primarily, Sanders obtains the trust of the audience by establishing a common struggle. The intended audience of Sanders’ essay includes the sons or daughters of alcoholic parents. By sharing his personal testimony, Sanders reveals to the audience to have experienced the same

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.

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.

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

This line is the epitome of remembrance. We all look back on our childhood and reminisce on the joyful moments in our life. We cling on to the details, remembering what the scene smelled, tasted, and looked like. This is exactly what E.B White is portraying in his passage “Once More to the Lake.” This line is a

Sanders started the article with how alcohol transformed his father from sober to a crazy stranger and his feeling of fear, guilt and shame in his childhood under the influence of his father. He described his father as a snoring dragon and a bomb in the house as his

Sanders had become a workaholic who avoided parties and struggled with shifting the blame off himself when he was not worthy of it. All of these qualities he had stemmed from the trauma induced by his father, and never left his life because he was too afraid of becoming his father. He faced the sad reality of being similar to his father in the way that he appeared to his son, something that would seemingly be avoided if alcohol was not in the picture, but it was not avoided. Out of all the fear and the shame held within, he could avoid the addiction. What he couldn’t avoid was the ugly truth about the demons he possesses inside him, coming to haunt him from the past, and coming to curse him with the fate he was so resistant against, becoming the father that he once had. This story is not an uncommon one. Even though there are variations in the parent’s behavior and the intensity of the effects on the child, the problem still exists. Over half of all people in America have had kids. How many of those children were lucky enough to have a parent from the 30% of alcoholics America

The day that they were moving, the movers cracked opened beers and afford one to his father. His father just could not say no, why should he, after all he hadn’t had drink in fifteen years. One drink is all it took; Sanders father became a drunk again. Sanders mother just could not tell her son that his father started drinking again. Sanders decided to visit his parents with his family. When they pulled up he noticed his father was sleeping in the hammock in the middle of the day. He knew right then and there that his father was drinking again because he would only sleep during the day if he was drunk. He did not need his mother to tell him that he was drunk, he could smell it, see it in his eyes, he could hear it in his speech. His wife and daughter asked him what was wrong and that moment he had to admit to his wife for the first time, that his father is an alcoholic. His father passed away from

He again establishes his ethos by revealing his first-hand experiences dealing with the effects of alcohol abuse. Additionally, he employs diction through words with strong negative connotations in order to further emphasize his disdain toward his father. For instance, Sanders illustrates how alcohol would transform his father from a capable man into a “pathetic, frightening, deceitful” (12) man. Put in such stark terms, Sanders leaves his readers no choice but to confront the ugly truth behind alcoholism. Sanders’ word choice creates a condescending tone that emphasizes the shame Sanders had felt as a