Once More To The Lake Thesis

One way to read actively is to read consciously. Ask yourself why or what are you reading. Asking questions while reading “makes you notice more, think harder, and make connections among ideas” (Cohen 3). Questioning the writer’s arguments allows the reader to think of reading as a conversation; the reader responds to the writer. Another way of reading actively is to read with a pencil in hand. Cohen notes that students are afraid that they cannot sell back their marked books. Instead of reading passively and forgetting the contents of the book, it is possible to make marks, or annotate to ensure active reading. Highlighting does not allow one to annotate since it would demonstrate that “you haven’t engaged with your reading so much as prioritized

parts” (Cohen 4). Notebooks and computers rise in popularity when it comes to taking notes. However, annotated notes are more difficult to access since it is not aligned to the text. On the bright side, students can take longer notes. Cohen states, “You can paraphrase ideas, you can summarize, you can note your reactions as you read.” Taking notes or recording reactions can soon develop into arguments that the student can write about.
One way to improve as writers is to observe how others write and try to duplicate the style. One should write as much as possible for practice since the “more you use your writing skills the stronger they will become” (Cohen 9). Writing is a process. Before a rough draft is a pre write or brainstorm to create ideas. After creating a draft, one must revise and change up thesis statement, if possible. Sometimes one may have to “rewrite what you wrote in the drafting stage but also that you may find to rethink the ideas you can up with during the prewriting process. Then one must use transitions to smooth in between paragraphs.
In “Once More to the Lake,” White reflected on his own childhood and took his soon to a lake that he used to visit during the childhood summers.

The lake represents both the author’s past (childhood) and the present (when he took his son). As White spends time with his son at the lake, he experiences a dual existence. He says, “I began to sustain the illusion that [my son] was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father” (White 459). This shows that White reminisces his childhood by going to the same lake that he went as a child and goes back and forth from the past to the present. In the past, there would be “peace and goodness and jollity” (White 462) which indicates that it used to be quiet and peaceful. Due to advancement of technology, White gets startled by the loud motorboats. He continues to describe his childhood compared to the present with his son. White would reminisces his adolescence and talk about how “ the boys played their mandolins and the girls ang and we ate doughnuts dipped in sugar… and what if felt like to think about girls back then” (White 463). White demonstrates that he has internal conflict about himself since he is trying to relive his adolescence and he is afraid of becoming older and eventually dying due to age. The last word in the essay is death since White realizes that his son will enter adolescence which shows that when the son matures, White will grow older until he dies of old age. His son will end up taking the

same position in becoming a father to his own child and go through the same process, similar to the circle of life.
In “Notes of a Native Son,” racism affected both Baldwin and his father. One example about how racism affected Baldwin’s father was during the time when Baldwin’s school teacher wanted to take him to see the real plays. Baldwin thought, “if she had been a Negro, find a way to [discourage] her, but agreed that she would pick me up at my house one evening” (Baldwin 55). Baldwin meant that if the teacher was a Negro, it wouldn’t raise suspicions. Baldwin’s father began to question the school teacher as if she might do something dangerous. When Baldwin’s father got laid off from his job, the teacher tried to help Baldwin’s family. Baldwin’s mother praised her, but his father “never trusted her and was always trying to surprise her in the open” (Baldwin 55). When Baldwin went to high school, his father warned that “ [Baldwin’s] white friends in high school were not really his friends and that [he] would see, when [Baldwin] was olde, how white people would do anything to keep a Negro down” (Baldwin 55). This demonstrates how racism caused Baldwin’s father to have trust issues. He is clearly afraid of being in dangerous situations with white people. He might have experienced or witnessed getting abused by white people in the past. Baldwin wondered why his father felt suspicious of white people but soon realized his father’s actions when he grew up.
Baldwin experienced racism when he went to a diner with his friend. The counterman asked what they wanted and Baldwin told his order. They got a reply of “We don’t serve Negroes here” (Baldwin 57). Baldwin went to another restaurant and waited for someone to take his order. The waitress was frightened and Baldwin “hated her for her white face, and for her great, astounded, frightened eyes” (Baldwin 58). Baldwin used to have a positive outlook on life but it began to change into hatred. Baldwin pretended that he didn’t hear the waitress and the waitress repeated. Out of rage, Baldwin “picked [the cup] and hurled it with all [his] strength at [the waitress]” (Baldwin 58). Baldwin was angry at the ridiculousness of not being served and how white people were afraid of him even if he did not do any harm to them.
In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell demonstrated how he hated the effects of imperialism.

He said, “I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British” (296) which indicates that he pitied the Burmese. Orwell worked as a sub-divisional police officer and noticed the “dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups..” (Orwell 296). This demonstrates the effects of imperialism under the British Raj, which gives another reason as to why Orwell hated imperialism. Orwell states, “With one part of my mind I thought the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny” (Orwell 296). This shows that the British Raj was very harsh on the Burmese and that the civilians were viewed as helpless. The elephant stomped on a man and destroyed many things and places. The elephant would represent the British Raj since it caused chaos for the civilians, similar to how it destroyed the huts, vans, cows, and a person. When Orwell decided to keep a rifle for defense, he said that “[the Burmese] had seen the rifle and were all shouting excitedly that I was going to shoot the elephant” (Orwell 298). This shows how the Burmese want to end the elephant’s life or the British Raj and wanted Orwell to shoot it. Before Orwell shoots the elephant, he says “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the armed native crown-- seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to

and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind” (Orwell 299). He also adds, “When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys” (Orwell 299). As a white man, Orwell is seen as superior. But since he is considered powerful, he abuses his power and ends up pleasing the Burmese by shooting the elephant.
In “On Being Cripple,” Mairs’s way of handling her condition is different from Sedaris. Mairs fights against her condition. She wanted to prove that she is much stronger than Multiple Sclerosis. She already knew about her condition since it was widely known. She said, “About a year and a half later I developed a blurred spot in one eye. I had, at last, the episodes “disseminated in space and time” requisite for a diagnosis: multiple sclerosis”(261). She started having symptoms during graduate school, which shows that she knew that something was wrong with her so she was able to get diagnosed. Mairs received support from her family and said that, “George and the children are still at my left elbow, holding tight. Anne and Matthew vacuum floors and dust furniture” (265). This demonstrates that Mairs was able to handle her condition fairly well since she was informed and had support.
On the other hand, Sedaris viewed his condition as a habit instead of a serious condition. He did not reject labels because he never knew that his actions and thought processes were considered not normal. Plus, he was about ten years old when he started behaving differently. His teachers complained but Sedaris could not control his actions. He had voices in his mind that would tell him, “Tap my heel against your forehead three times. Do it now, quick, no one will notice” (Sedaris 360). When he came back home, he would “touch the front door seven times with each elbow” (Sedaris 363). Sedaris could not stop the urges due to his thought process. His parents and teachers did not understand his condition. When his teachers confronted his mother, his mother would joke around and bond with the teachers. Sedaris’s father threatened his son at some point and said, “See, I knew you could quit if you just put your mind into it” (368). Sedaris was at a disadvantage since he was not diagnosed and informed of his condition.