Once More to the Lake - Essay

Francisco Gomez
Mrs. Elaine Corwin
English Composition Section 4002
November 10, 2009
“Once More to the Lake”
      E.B. White’s “ Once More to the Lake” invites various interpretations. However, I suggest that he refers to something other than the trip to the lake. I propose that White’s “ Once More to the Lake” describes his view about the passage of time and change that it brings.
      First, White portrays his views about the passage of time and describes the lake where he had been in his childhood years. With great detail and description White writes, “The early mornings, when the lake was cool and motionless, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and the wet woods whose scent entered through the screen” (343).Very well written and relevant citation. This detailed description intertwines the past and present while the father looks back at those years and tries to relive the moments through his son's eyes. Despite the fact that he remains a salt-water man, he has difficulty dealing with the fact that he remains unable to go back in time. White also writes, “For a moment I missed terribly the middle alternative . . . ” describing how the father remains uncomfortable with changes in the lake since the last time he visitED it (345).
      As the trip continues, White writes about the changes that the passage of time brings repeating “there had been no years”(344). He now describes his perspective of change through his son. The father can almost see himself as his son doing the same things he did in the past. This duality is expressed when White writes, “I felt dizzy and did not know which rod I was at the end of” (344). As the story progresses, the father begins to point out the differences of his once peaceful summer cabin. To White something in particular was wrong,comma? as he writes, “ . . . Was the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors . . . ” (346). These changes mean nothing to his memory as...