Born on July 11, 1899, Elwyn Brooks White published his fist collection of works in 1925 as an American novelist, essayist, and poet. Since then, White has published more than 15 works of fiction, poetry, and essays, but is best known for his children's books, Charlotte's Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Stuart Little. Most of White's writing themes consist of war, internationalism, urban and rural life comfort, as well as failures of technology and the complications of modern society. In his 1941 essay, "Once More to the Lake," E.B White compares and contrasts the narrator's childhood memories and his present memories, as an adult, on a lake in Maine. The narrator begins the story by reflecting his youthful memories at the lake with his father. Now, as a father, he decides to relive those past moments and feelings with his son. As the narrator begins his journey, despite changes due from the innovation of technology, he notices everything is still the same. However, continuing his journey, the narrator struggles with the distinction between past and present experiences. All through his journey, the narrator feels he is "living a dual existence" At time, he feels the presence of his father in him and his presence in his son. This illusion between his childhood and manhood effects his perception of time. Towards the end, the speaker realizes that his roles have changed from son to father. He becomes aware of the fact that he is a middle-age man on the path to mortality. In "Once More to the Lake," because memories remain constant, it effects humans' time perception of past and present experiences or events and this matters because passage of time continues and death is unavoidable.
In the beginning of the essay, the narrator n...
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...d present worlds. In the end, humans are subject to the universal cycle of life, in which birth begins one's life and death ends one's life. Elwyn Brooks White's essay represents place-based writing, in which it demonstrates a place of heritage (Holmes 66). White's essay is centered at a campground on a lake in Maine. This camp site represents "family heritage," in which he experiences valued memories (Holmes). The use of pathos or appeals to emotion demonstrates excitement of a well remembered place in which it "generates a type of connection" and "promise to the reader" (Holmes 68). Reflection of memories allows the narrator to understand his role and identity in the present (Radstone 135). Elwyn Brooks Whites successfully portrays the difficultly of accepting passage of life/ time, in which childhood memories are valued and cherished through place-based writing.
In the book “The Boys of Winter” by Wayne Coffey, shows the struggle of picking the twenty men to go to Lake Placid to play in the 1980 Olympics and compete for the gold medal. Throughout this book Wayne Coffey talks about three many points. The draft and training, the importance of the semi-final game, and the celebration of the gold medal by the support the team got when they got home.
In the essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White, uses diction and syntax to reveal the main character’s attitude towards the lake in Maine. He has an uncertain attitude towards the lake throughout the essay because he is unsure of who he is between him and his son. On the ride there White, pondering, remembering old memories, keeps wondering if the lake is going to be the same warm place as it was when he was a kid. The lake is not just an ordinary lake to White, it’s a holy spot, a spot where he grew up every summer. “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot-the coves and streams, the hills that the sun set behind, the camps and the paths behind the camps” (29). White’s diction and syntax
The novel, The Color of Water follows the author and narrator James McBride, and his mother Ruth’s life. It explores their childhood—when they were both embarrassed by their mothers—through the part of their lives where they began to accept themselves for who they are. Moreover, this memoir is quite distinctive as McBride cleverly parallels his story to his mother, Ruth’s story using dual narration. This technique further helps contribute to the theme of self-identity. Throughout the novel, McBride searches for identity and a sense of belonging that derives from his multiracial family. By using two different narrations, McBride gradually establishes his identity and by integrating both narratives at the end, McBride also shows that although both narrators at the beginning had different upbringings, in the end they came together, and understood each other’s perspective.
In The Color of Water, author James McBride writes both his autobiography and a tribute to the life of his mother, Ruth McBride. In the memoirs of the author’s mother and of himself, they constantly face discrimination from their race in certain neighborhoods and of their religious beliefs. The trials and tribulations faced by these two characters have taught readers universally that everyone faces difficulties in life, but they can all be surmounted.
In looking back upon his experience in Auschwitz, Primo Levi wrote in 1988: ?It is naïve, absurd, and historically false to believe that an infernal system such as National Socialism (Nazism) sanctifies its victims. On the contrary, it degrades them, it makes them resemble itself.? (Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved, 40). The victims of National Socialism in Levi?s book are clearly the Jewish Haftlings. Survival in Auschwitz, a book written by Levi after he was liberated from the camp, clearly makes a case that the majority of the Jews in the lager were stripped of their human dignity. The Jewish prisoners not only went through a physical hell, but they were psychologically driven under as well. Levi writes, ??the Lager was a great machine to reduce us to beasts? We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death?? (Levi, 41). One would be hard pressed to find passages in Survival in Auschwitz that portray victims of the camp as being martyrs. The treatment of the Jews in the book explicitly spells out the dehumanization to which they were subjected. It is important to look at how the Jews were degraded in the camp, and then examine whether or not they came to embody National Socialism after this.
In E.B. White’s essays, “Once More to the Lake “and ‘The Ring of Time”, the author demonstrates two different interpretations of time and how it is used to symbolize meaning to each piece. “Once More to the Lake” is an essay that is derived mostly from White’s personal experience while “The Ring of Time” is mostly examining a teenage girl performing at the circus, in the eyes of someone else. Both of these articles give the reader insight of how the author uses the theme of time to show different aspects to the storyline. In White’s essays, he uses strategies that reflect on the past and foresee the future, use other individuals as vehicles to access an alternative temporality and demonstrate his own perceptions and visions in order to explore the reality or notions of time.
The book “A Long Way From Chicago” is an adventurous and funny story. The story takes place at Joey Dowdel’s Grandmothers farm house in the country. Joey and his sister Mary Alice were sent to their Grandma’s house during the summer because their parents had to go to Canada for their work. At first, Joey felt uncomfortable with his Grandmother because he had never met her before but eventually he got to know her and they became close friends.
In E.B. White's personal essay, 'Once More to the Lake,' the lake serves as the setting for both the author's past and present. In his younger days, White tells that his father would take him to the lake every summer. As he grew up, he had a son and explained that he also took him to the same lake as did his father took him to long ago. In the essay, White explained many things about the lake and what changed has overcome it since he has last been there when he was a boy. Such as, the lake's motion, how it looked around the shores, and how it felt to the touch.
Throughout his villanelle, “Saturday at the Border,” Hayden Carruth continuously mentions the “death-knell” (Carruth 3) to reveal his aged narrator’s anticipation of his upcoming death. The poem written in conversation with Carruth’s villanelle, “Monday at the River,” assures the narrator that despite his age, he still possesses the expertise to write a well structured poem. Additionally, the poem offers Carruth’s narrator a different attitude with which to approach his writing, as well as his death, to alleviate his feelings of distress and encourage him to write with confidence.
During the process of growing up, we are taught to believe that life is relatively colorful and rich; however, if this view is right, how can we explain why literature illustrates the negative and painful feeling of life? Thus, sorrow is inescapable; as it increase one cannot hide it. From the moment we are born into the world, people suffer from different kinds of sorrow. Even though we believe there are so many happy things around us, these things are heartbreaking. The poems “Tips from My Father” by Carol Ann Davis, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop convey the sorrow about growing up, about sorrowful pretending, and even about life itself.
In the story "So Much Water So Close To Home" a young girl is raped, killed and found in a river where four men are fishing. What makes this story interesting is that after discovering the body they did not report it until after they left, three days later. When one of the men who discovered her, the husband of the narrator, Stuart returns home he doesn't tell his wife about the incident until the following morning. Because of this, Claire believes that all men are responsible for the murder of the girl. Due to these facts she acts irrationally, suspiciously, and with distrust not only towards her husband, but also to all men in general.
In His Immortality by Thomas Hardy, the theme of the circle of life is in the form of memories. As some memories are passed down from generation to generation, others memories can die just as easily. This poem describes a person who dies. This person is very kind and effects many people through his life. After he passes away, the memories of him venture on. Time goes by, there were only one soul in which those memories lie in. The person who owns that soul is the speaker of this poem. This man is starting to grow old while all of his friends are passing taking those memories of the initial man is the ground with them. When his day came to say goodbye to the world, the memories of his late and kind friend will die as well. A new circle will be born soon after this occurs. This latest man has affected many people as did the initial man. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker of the poem sees his dead friend saying he “saw a dead man’s finer part” (Hardy). The first man’s great qualities have made people keep his memory alive. Sadly, after time passes, the memory of this man is fading fast. This man’s friends are dying off, alongside with the memory of him. Those loving memories in many are now only in one, “And find in me alone, a feeble spark” (Hardy). When this man dies so will the memory of the first ...
In Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, King intertwines stories to create a satire that pokes fun at Indian culture compared to European culture. The book attempts to also poke fun at Judeo-Cristian beliefs by examining the creation story. King makes fun of the story of Adam and Eve. He pokes fun at western civilization and government. Although the book made me laugh some of the meanings behind kings writing puzzled me and made me question king's motives. The book is truly a puzzle that can be hard to decipher for most. I found the book to be challenging but entertaining and interesting.
The novel, “Looking For Alaska” by John Green is an extremely meaningful book that I have read countless times. Reading this book was important to me seeing how the pages are written in a particularly interesting style that I had never experienced before. I thought this novel was intriguing considering the story line behind two of the main characters, Miles “Pudge” Halter and Alaska Young. The striking way this story was written was in two sections, a before and an after. The entire first half of the novel I was wondering what it had meant by “before”. I happened to be on edge wondering what event would happen since it counted down to the event with headings such as, “one hundred thirty six days before”. Those headings divided each day in Pudges
In “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White expresses a sense of wonder when he revisits a place that has significant memories. Upon revisiting the lake he once knew so well, White realizes that even though things in his life have changed, namely he is now the father returning with his son, the lake still remains the same. Physically being back at the lake, White faces an internal process of comparing his memory of the lake as a child, to his experience with his son. Throughout this reflection, White efficiently uses imagery, repetition, and tone to enhance his essay.