Kahlil Gibran once said “Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration”. E.B White’s short essay “Once More to the Lake” illustrates White’s own experience of a nostalgia trip in a lake of Maine where he comprehended the meaning of life. “Once More to the Lake” uses imagery to depict both author’s longing to his adolescent life and the internal struggle in facing his true self. The first two paragraphs of the essay reveals the significant of the lake in Maine to White. It is not only a recreational location but also a holy spot to him. This is the spot which he can escape the salt-water life chaos: restlessness of the tides, the
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However, White notices that even though the scenery of the lake remain unchanged, but the joy in camper’s mind, especially his own is mostly gone. White describes the scene of arriving decades ago as the following: “The arriving had been so big a business in itself, at the railway station the farm wagon drawn up…. The shouts and cries of the other campers when they saw you, and the trunks to be unpacked, to give up their rich burden”. However, there is no loud wonderful fuss about the trucks now. Campers only spend five minutes on unpacking and that is all. The missing of exciting atmosphere suddenly pulls White back to reality. On his way to farmhouse for dinner, White notices that a path used by horse-drawn carriages supposed to have three tracks. However, because of the use of automobile, there were only two tire tracks left. As White states in the essay, he sometimes "missed terribly the middle alternative”. Also, White noticed that the sound of the lake is totally different now. White misses the sound of one-cylinder and two-cylinder engines that people put on their boat when he was young. However, as the technology improves, the majority of campers use outboard motors which makes an unpleasant sound which totally break his illusion and let him realize time has passed
However, White notices that even though the scenery of the lake remain unchanged, but the joy in camper’s mind, especially his own is mostly gone. White describes the scene of arriving decades ago as the following: “The arriving had been so big a business in itself, at the railway station the farm wagon drawn up…. The shouts and cries of the other campers when they saw you, and the trunks to be unpacked, to give up their rich burden”. However, there is no loud wonderful fuss about the trucks now. Campers only spend five minutes on unpacking and that is all. The missing of exciting atmosphere suddenly pulls White back to reality. On his way to farmhouse for dinner, White notices that a path used by horse-drawn carriages supposed to have three tracks. However, because of the use of automobile, there were only two tire tracks left. As White states in the essay, he sometimes "missed terribly the middle alternative”. Also, White noticed that the sound of the lake is totally different now. White misses the sound of one-cylinder and two-cylinder engines that people put on their boat when he was young. However, as the technology improves, the majority of campers use outboard motors which makes an unpleasant sound which totally break his illusion and let him realize time has passed