Summary Of Once More To The Lake By E. B White

What to a human is a memory? If you asked someone what a memory is to them, you may get different responses out of each person that you ask. For the person whose childhood was fulfilling, a memory is going to the park and reminiscing on one’s past. However, for the person whose childhood was nothing but torture and despair, a memory to this person may be remembering their high school experience and how they were bullied every day. No matter how we look at it, a memory is a memory, whether good or bad. In E. B. White’s essay, “Once More to the Lake”, he discusses his past experiences he had as a child at the lake with his family. When speaking of memories, an individual may think of a memory and this recollection will bring another past event …show more content…
For White, this occurs when he talks about his childhood at the lake. White discusses how he remembers the lake and that he misses being there reliving the old memories he had. In his essay White says, “[...] there are days when the restlessness of the tides and the fearful cold of the sea water and the incessant wind that blows across the afternoon and into the evening make me wish for the placidity of the lake in the woods”(White 472). This shows that White thinks about the lake from time to time and he misses being there. I often think of this when I think of the past experiences I had with my cousins. When I was a child, my cousins and I would go to a place called Valley Beach. This place was an enormous concrete pool in the middle of a valley. Every summer day my cousins and I would go and do activities, such as swimming and kickball. When I think back on these times, I remember all the good times we had playing kickball and beating any other team that challenged us. Reminiscing on just one specific time always seems to bring me back to other …show more content…
This is because as we age, we begin to mature and look at life in a new perspective. While White is at the lake, he is awakened to find that his son had snuck out of the building to go fishing. This reminded White of his younger self because he remembers doing the exact same thing. In his essay, White states, “I would be in the middle of some simple act, I would be picking up a bait box or laying down a table fork, or I would be saying something and suddenly it would be not I but my father who was saying the words or making the gesture”(White 473). This is significant because it shows White looking at life with a different perspective. Rather than White being a child, he sees himself as his father however many years ago when he was a child. I myself have experienced this. Ever since my mother had picked her job back up, my brothers and I are left home alone to do the housework. Usually, my brother does not do a whole lot, so I end up being the one who does most of the work. However when I am doing the work I do not see myself doing it, rather I see my mother cleaning it or yelling at my brother to quit being