The clock is always ticking and the world is always changing whether we want it to or not. In E.B. Whites "Once More to the Lake", A present day father takes his child to an area his family would frequent for a week every summer. Upon arriving back at his childhood retreat, he is hit with an almost overwhelming sense of nostalgia. Once a child on a family vacation, the narrator is now reliving his childhood based on the experiences of his own child visiting the lake. This story is a testament to the reality of the famous quote "time waits for no one".
In the beginning of the story, the narrator is nothing more than a curious child on vacation. As time goes on he is soon to find the realization that life is no longer the same. No longer is the narrator a child but is now and adult and gains the responsibility of being a father. In shock and curiosity of where the time has gone, he soon finds himself back at the scene he remembered as a child. His curiosity is evident in the quote "I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot". Shortly after arrival however, he finds that time has not changed the setting as much as he would have thought. This is evident in his quote "when I got back there with my boy, and we settled into a camp... I could tell it was pretty much going to be the same thing as before". The narrator notices some slight changes on the way such as technological advances and changes in the soda that goes around but not anything significant. The real change is encompassed in the fact that he is no longer playing the role of the child, but is now playing the role of the father. It is an eye opening event when he realizes that he is almost reliving his experiences through his son's.
The passage of time is inevitable and noticeable in any persons memories or recollections. The narrator is struggling to grasp that he is now playing the role of his father. In the quote "The arrival