"Once More to the Lake"

"Once More to the Lake" E.B. White, 1941

A bittersweet mix of old memories and new experiences, E.B. White recalls the time he took his son back to the lake where he spent his summers as a child. In “Once More to the Lake”, White is able to compose a story that crosses the barriers of time by betraying a rural setting through the eyes of a child, much like his famous book Charlotte's Web. When White returns to his childhood haunt as an adult, it is his wish to share all the joy he had at the lake with his son. He sees so much of himself in his son that while they are fishing, he remembers “I felt dizzy and didn’t know which rod I was at the end of” (White 181). Despite being absent from the lake for many years, White immediately feels right at home and remembers everything about the place as if he only left yesterday. This gives a mystical, nostalgic feel to the short tale, sending the message that some things will always have a place in your heart and in your memory: time makes no difference in the feelings one harbors for something special. For any adult who longs for their childhood happiness, they can still get back that feeling by revisiting their memories. The reader can feel the author’s love for the lake as well as the beauty of the nature there through White’s use of imagery. He describes the lake as a “constant and trustworthy body of water. In the shallows, the dark, water-soaked sticks and twigs, smooth and old, were undulating in clusters on the bottom against the clean ribbed sand... There had been no years” (White 181). By going into such deep description, the scene becomes deeply significant in communicating the message that the narrator wants to go back in time. Such language allows the reader to feel the pull and comforting familiarity of past memories, and will surely remind them of their own dreams of long ago.

"Silhouette of Father and Five-Year-Old Son Fishing" by Kevin Beebe