Everyone has a favorite childhood memory. Whether the memory was from a year ago, or from 20 years ago, cherished memories about the past exist forever. Even though fun times of the present quickly turn into the past, whenever a stressful or troubling circumstance occurs, it is always enjoyable to flash back to a time of happiness. This is exactly what the acclaimed author, E.B. White, writes about in his essay. The memories or experiences he recalls vary from vacationing on a lake to watching a circus, but the purpose of each story remains the same. White uses parallelism, symbols, and other distinguished rhetorical strategies to reflect on the past and to show how the delight of childhood is quick to diminish. In the essay, “Once More
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This notion, immediately suggested in the title, describes time as being round. Right away, readers can infer that time is a prevalent motif throughout the passage. In the first paragraph, White sets the scene of the story. He is at the circus watching a performance. White describes the trainer - a woman in her forties - as being caught up in the “desultory treadmills of the afternoon.” This metaphor shows how adults get trapped in the mundane cycle of life. Just as a treadmill is stationary, adults work their whole lives, but they often fail to move in a meaningful direction. Because of this, their actions come across as unnatural, and their lives lack a …show more content…
In the essay, White is a farmer that raises pigs for meat. Except, when one of his pigs gets sick, White becomes the caretaker. Many farmers would not think much about a sick pig; it is only going to get slaughtered anyway. However, White thinks of the pig as more than just an animal. He views the sick pig as a child, like his own son. His emotional connection with the pig is shown when White states, “when a pig (or a child) refuses supper a chill wave of fear runs through the household.” The parentheses blatantly articulate how White feels about the pig’s sickness. He compares the pig to a child and shows how the sickness negatively affects the farm. Parents never want their children to die from a disease and neither does
This notion, immediately suggested in the title, describes time as being round. Right away, readers can infer that time is a prevalent motif throughout the passage. In the first paragraph, White sets the scene of the story. He is at the circus watching a performance. White describes the trainer - a woman in her forties - as being caught up in the “desultory treadmills of the afternoon.” This metaphor shows how adults get trapped in the mundane cycle of life. Just as a treadmill is stationary, adults work their whole lives, but they often fail to move in a meaningful direction. Because of this, their actions come across as unnatural, and their lives lack a …show more content…
In the essay, White is a farmer that raises pigs for meat. Except, when one of his pigs gets sick, White becomes the caretaker. Many farmers would not think much about a sick pig; it is only going to get slaughtered anyway. However, White thinks of the pig as more than just an animal. He views the sick pig as a child, like his own son. His emotional connection with the pig is shown when White states, “when a pig (or a child) refuses supper a chill wave of fear runs through the household.” The parentheses blatantly articulate how White feels about the pig’s sickness. He compares the pig to a child and shows how the sickness negatively affects the farm. Parents never want their children to die from a disease and neither does