Preview

Summary Of Once More To The Lake By E. B White

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
452 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Summary Of Once More To The Lake By E. B White
William Gibson has a quote which says "Time moves in one direction, memory in another". This quote is especially evident in "Once More to the Lake" by E.B White and "On Going Home" by Joan Didion. In both of these personal narratives, the authors struggle with the overwhelming sensation of yearning for the past. In an effort to conquer the nostalgic sensation, they both visit a place that is very dear to their hearts. However, as the authors soon figured out, nothing stays the same forever. Once More to the Lake tells the story of the author returning to his campground with a lake, a place where he happily spent countless childhood evenings. For the first time, the author decides to have his son accompany him. It is here, seeing
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Tim O’brien’s in the Lake of the Woods Literary Summary
    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tim O’brien’s in the Lake of the Woods Literary Summary

    mystery and remained an enigmatic piece of literature even in its conclusion. The point-of-view, plot, and figurative language developed by O’Brien were critical in maintaining the mystery as consistently and effectively as was evident in, In the Lake of the Woods. The main character, John Wade, believed he was a magician from early childhood and throughout his development into adulthood. He was the ultimate magician both personally and in his perception of his vocations of soldier and politician.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary Of In The Lake Of The Woods By Tim O Brien
    • 202 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary Of In The Lake Of The Woods By Tim O Brien

    Certain relationships can only reach a level of tolerance before fading away and eventually collapsing. The novel, In the Lake of the Woods is a piece of fictional writing written by Tim O’Brien to explain the impact of difficulties in a relationship. The novel provides the story of the man, John Wade that goes through a mysterious tragedy when his wife, Kathy goes missing. Throughout the story, O’Brien presents evidence, and past stories of the couple to encourage readers to determine what happened to Kathy. However, by the end of the novel, the truth of Kathy’s departure is still not revealed, leaving the reader to infer what happened.…

    • 202 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    White's Childhood Lake
    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages

    White's Childhood Lake

    “The small waves were the same, chucking the rowboat under the chin as we fished at anchor, and the boat was the same boat, the same color green and the ribs broken in the same places, and under the floorboards the same fresh water leavings and debris- the dead hellgrammite, the wisps of moss, the rusty discarded fishhook, the dried blood from yesterday’s catch” (White 195-196).…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More To The Lake E. B White Analysis
    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Once More To The Lake E. B White Analysis

    Once More to the Lake is an essay mainly about how the author/dad, E. B. White, can’t quite seem to let go of his childhood. A lot of his childhood memories are embedded within the lake and the surrounding areas, so he cannot help but constantly reminisce about how things were when he used to visit the lake as a child. This seems to take away from his current visit to the lake in my opinion. He does not seem to want to live in the moment but constantly makes comparisons of how the waitresses were the same, barring their clean hair, the calmness of the lake was the same, even how the insects were the same. It also appears that he is having a lot of trouble with all the latest developments in technology.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing E. B. White's Once More To The Little Store
    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Comparing E. B. White's Once More To The Little Store

    White’s Once More to the Lake, White relives his experience at the same lake to which he visited as a child. He begins by describing the lake when he was a child and then progressing as he ages. The main purpose of doing so is to depict the effects of time on not only the setting, but on himself. Throughout the essay, White is constantly comparing himself to not only his son, but his own father. “I began to sustain the illusion that [my son] was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father” (White par. 4). One of the most prominent pieces of the essay that depicts the overall meaning is described in the very end of the essay. “I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death” (White par. 13). In these last sentences, White is not only realizing that he is middle-aged, but he is feeling what his son is feeling as he enters the cold lake water. Thus creating White’s dual-existance in the world; living as a child, as well as an adult. The diction of White’s essay seems to mimic the motions of the lake: calm and tranquil. While the tone of White in his essay is extremely nostalgic as he reluctantly accepts that time has aged him. White seems to struggle with living in this childhood memory of the lake, which appears to be so vivid that an illusion is created in his head in which White is…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Once More To The Lake By E. B. White
    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Summary Of Once More To The Lake By E. B. White

    When I was a little girl, my life was very much E. B. White’s story, “Once More to the Lake.” In White story, he describes the town as being always the same, even years later when he takes his own son there, “-the waitresses were the same country girls, there having been no passage of time” (White 203). Like White, my grandfather would always take us camping and for many, many years nothing changed about the lake in Kirby Landing. There were always the same pine trees that needed to be cut the year before still there. At the end of the camp site, my grandfather would hang the same bucket light he made to hang on the pole for extra light.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Analyzing The Essay 'Once More To The Lake'
    • 1689 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Analyzing The Essay 'Once More To The Lake'

    "Once More to the Lake" is a complex story about embracing change and accepting mortality as part of the aging process. The preference related to stylistic writing boils down to the individual reader and how the reader feels when the last word of the story is read. Will "This Old House" allow the reader to experience hopefulness or a warm and fuzzy feeling as they contemplate life moving forward? Perhaps "Once More to the Lake" leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable or uneasy as they now are faced with accepting the reality of their own mortality. Which of the two stories based on the descriptions so far in this writing are you drawn to and in addition which story inspires you to move outside the safety of your comfort zone and take a risk for self…

    • 1689 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Life Changing Journey in "Greasy Lake"
    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Life Changing Journey in "Greasy Lake"

    In the short story, “Greasy Lake,” written by author T. Coraghessan Boyle, we read about the gruesome discovery that the unidentified narrator himself comes across on one particular summer night while seeking adventure with his two friends. The teenage boys all of equal age believe they are “bad” and unfortunately they learn the hard way about the consequences of being mischievous when they visit the infamous Greasy Lake. The suburban boys find more than what they are looking for and sure learn from their experience of reaching adulthood. Boyle uses first-person narration to allow the nineteen year old boy to tell us the story first-hand and give us room for our very own interpretation. The anonymous narrator, the protagonist, does indeed take upon a life changing journey that fits several elements of the hero journey pattern as articulated by Joseph Campbell in his summary of the steps of the Hero’s Journey.…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More To The Lake Analysis Essay
    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Once More To The Lake Analysis Essay

    In E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake” a man travels to a lake, where he vacationed as a child, with his son in an attempt to return to his youth. The apparent unchanging nature of the area brings about the realization his own mortality and inevitable change. The moments of duality and subtle alterations within the passage create an eerie sense of the adjusting world.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More To The Lake By E. B White Analysis
    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Once More To The Lake By E. B White Analysis

    B. White ventures to Maine with his young son to return to a camp he had spent time with his father in his childhood. White’s self-discovery begins with the confusion of roles with his son. He often has flashbacks to memories he made as a child at the lake triggered when his son does the same actions. He sees much of his younger self in his son and much of his father in his present self. This recognition of the passing of roles that has occurred is the key to White finding himself on his trip back to the lake.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More To The Lake Analysis
    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Once More To The Lake Analysis

    In Elwyn Brooks White’s essay “Once More to the Lake” we learn about a trip, that the author took with his son to a lake in Maine. The lake is very sentimental to White because his father brought him to very same lake as a child. During E. B. White’s trip to the lake with his son, he is able to compare and contrast what he sees to experiences from his time at the lake. Some of these experiences led White to believe that he was experiencing events from different family member’s lives. This leads him to believe that he is experiencing three different views during the time spent at the lake. Which leads to White trying to sort out what is still the same against what has changed at the lake.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    once more to the lake
    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages

    once more to the lake

    E.B. White's essay "Once More to the Lake" is a very well written piece of writing. That being saidI will first start breaking down the main points and different parts of this essay by discussing the more broad subject of his structure. Most of the essay is written about the present but he jumps periodically to his past. He uses this effect as a comparison between the past and the present. It shows mostly how his son is just like he was, but at the same time his son can be different. For instance they both snuck out on the boat, but he used a quiet oar while his son used an loud outboard motor. The time and culture differences seem to jump out to show some of the suttle differences time can cause. An example could be the switch of people from humming inboard motors to roaring outboard motors. I say these are suttle, but in this story they are everything. He uses the small differences to show how much the world has changed. It is easy to understand and apply the concept because the story is so realistically true. The essay was just a chronlogical story about a fishing trip, besides the occasional flashback of course. A very simple story used to show the importance of the observations made during different points in the authors life. He is able to bring it all together.That is one part of what makes this literature so great.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More To The Lake By E. B White Analysis
    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Once More To The Lake By E. B White Analysis

    In the essay, “Once More to the Lake” by E.B White, a father returns with his son, to a vacation lake in Maine, where his father used to take him when he was younger. When the father spends time there with his son, he begins to reminisce on the experience he shared at the lake with his own father. The thought of immortality and timelessness tricks the narrator into believing no time has passed. While the father is referring back to these memories, the author makes a transition from fantasy to reality. Eventually, the father identifies differences in what his son experiences at the lake and what he experienced at the lake when he was a child. The…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Once More at the Lake
    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Once More at the Lake

    The essay “Once More to the Lake” by E.B. White was about a man who had a great sense of nostalgia after he reminisces old childhood memories of a lake in Maine. The author begins to feel a sense of immortality and is in denial of the fact that he’s not a child anymore. He begins to realize that we cannot relive or recreate our childhood, only visit the locations it took place. Throughout White’s essay, he begins to convey his confused and deniable emotional roller coaster towards mortality.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Compare and Contrast
    • 1581 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Compare and Contrast

    “Once More to the Lake” written by E.B White and “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard are both essays that reminisce about both authors’ childhood experiences. In the novel “Once More to the Lake”, White talks about his favorite spot during his childhood years where he would visit with his family once a month every year. In “An American Childhood” Dillard talks about growing up with her mother and the memories they shared together. Despite the differences between these two novels both authors talk about their childhood using symbolism, metaphors, personifications and many other literary devices.…

    • 1581 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics