Essay on Once More to the Lake
An Analysis of E.B Whites, “Once More to the Lake”
In E.B Whites essay, “Once More to the Lake” he reflects on his summer outing with his son. Throughout the trip, memories of his childhood, long forgotten, resurface themselves as he experiences the same vacation with his own son. These memories create in him a feeling as if time has not changed and that he is reliving his old days. His father used to take him to the same camping spot as a boy. He was certain that there would be changes since then, but on arrival his senses are awakened and old feelings revived as he takes in the unchanged sights, sounds, and smells of the peaceful lake in Maine.
The overall theme of this story is the acceptance of aging and the passing of time. The passage of time throughout the story has a relentless hold on White, he struggles throughout as reality becomes harder and harder for him to grasp. The author incorporates many literary devices which add to his overall vivid descriptions and comparisons, a few which include: imagery, tone, and symbolism. By these techniques the narrator is able to set the reader’s imagination on fire! Throughout this literary work detailed comparisons are blended in as he remembers his own vacation to the lake as a young boy. These comparisons make it hard for him to face the fact that he has aged very much since that time. The feelings and emotions these reincarnated memories create bring about sensations of a “dual existence” (25) in White.
The narrators detailed diction in describing these emotions and senses that are being brought back and relived, arouse similar feelings in the reader. It makes us empathize for the now, grown man. He remembers such things as the smell of his bedroom, “picking up a bait box, or a table fork” (25), as well as many other intricate details. Everything seems to bring him back to the cherished memories he had stored for so many years of him camping on the lake with his own father. The imagery used in the essay
In E.B Whites essay, “Once More to the Lake” he reflects on his summer outing with his son. Throughout the trip, memories of his childhood, long forgotten, resurface themselves as he experiences the same vacation with his own son. These memories create in him a feeling as if time has not changed and that he is reliving his old days. His father used to take him to the same camping spot as a boy. He was certain that there would be changes since then, but on arrival his senses are awakened and old feelings revived as he takes in the unchanged sights, sounds, and smells of the peaceful lake in Maine.
The overall theme of this story is the acceptance of aging and the passing of time. The passage of time throughout the story has a relentless hold on White, he struggles throughout as reality becomes harder and harder for him to grasp. The author incorporates many literary devices which add to his overall vivid descriptions and comparisons, a few which include: imagery, tone, and symbolism. By these techniques the narrator is able to set the reader’s imagination on fire! Throughout this literary work detailed comparisons are blended in as he remembers his own vacation to the lake as a young boy. These comparisons make it hard for him to face the fact that he has aged very much since that time. The feelings and emotions these reincarnated memories create bring about sensations of a “dual existence” (25) in White.
The narrators detailed diction in describing these emotions and senses that are being brought back and relived, arouse similar feelings in the reader. It makes us empathize for the now, grown man. He remembers such things as the smell of his bedroom, “picking up a bait box, or a table fork” (25), as well as many other intricate details. Everything seems to bring him back to the cherished memories he had stored for so many years of him camping on the lake with his own father. The imagery used in the essay