Once More to the Lake Written By E. B. White

• In, Once More to the Lake, E. B. White returns to the lake where he went with his family every summer as a child. He takes his son with him, but has trouble distinguishing the memories he made as a child and the actions of his son. He describes the newfound sensation, "I looked at the boy, who was silently watching his fly and it was my hands that held his rod, my eyes watching. I felt dizzy and didn't low which rod I was at the end of," (White, pg. 181). In his narrative, he and his son are seemingly doppelgängers, the only difference between them being time. For the most part, his son experiences the lake the same way he did as a child, forcing White to realize that he is playing the part his father once did. He creates an interesting juxtapose in his writing, by highlighting the cherished memories he made at the lake as a child as he recollects them, with the new experiences that his son is living through. Although it is difficult for him, by the end of his narrative, White realizes his own mortality. He is no longer the easy-going young boy swimming in the pond with the children, but now the responsible adult overseeing this activity. Due to this new level of consciousness regarding the contrast of his summers and his son's, he is forced to come to terms with his own mortality. He ends his essay with a final parallel between his son and himself, "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, pg. 185). He does an incredible job of communicating the manner insignificant in which people live, but also the signifigcance that they are able to timelessly create in the experiences that they share with others. White uses his authority of recounting aspects of his own life, and lots of imagery to solidify his point.  This essay was written for adults who may not have come to terms with growing up, as well as children who should learn to appreciate the time they have with their parents. 
  
  All Life Connects: In this photograph, taken by Raymond Gehman in Canada, it is hard to tell where the forest stops and the reflection starts. White faces something similar when trying to separate his experience at the lake as a child, and the experiences of his son.