'Once More to the Lake' by E.B. White - 1941

E.B. White, in his essay ‘Once More to the Lake’, tells a story about his return to the lake with his son, where he spent his vacation in August growing up. He uses this story to convey his feelings of nostalgia. He tells a story of this calm, tranquil, undisturbed lake that hasn't changed in years. "The years were a mirage and there had been no years." White keeps alluding to the fact that this lake hasn't changed literally at all since the his days as a youth. It supports his description because the idea that this lake and everything about the lake hasn't changed literally at all, not one bit, since he last was there as a child about the same age as his son. He uses his visit to the lake with his son to relive his past experiences through his son. In paragraph five White states, “We went fishing in the morning. I felt the same… I looked at the boy, who was silently watching his fly, and it was my hands that held his rod, my eyes watching. I felt dizzy and didn’t know which rod I was at the end of.” This ties into his purpose of exploiting the human desire to resist change.  White has an obsession with the fact that the lake has not changed, and it allows him to relive these cherished moments, which is something everyone can relate to. Through using examples relating to nostalgia, White is able to better convey the idea that humans resist change.

White has very few direct references to time in the essay, giving the reader a timeless impression which goes hand in hand with his purpose. He uses imagery to create a sense of pleasure in the reader's mind by showing the lake as a calm, tranquil, untouched place, effectively blurring the advancement of time and gives the reader the impression that “The years were a mirage and there had been no years.”  This allows the reader to connect with his writing, furthering their understanding of not just his writing, but his purpose as well.  

'Corn-pone Opinions' by Mark Twain - 1901

Written during a time when slavery and segregation were much alive, Mark Twain writes the essay, Corn-pone Opinions to shine a light on the instinct of conformity in American society.  He starts the essay off with an anecdote from his childhood, where their slave said something that he very much agreed with, “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his 'pinions is”, meaning that no human can strive above their ‘corn-pone opinions’ and everyone must get approval from other people.  This ties into Twain’s purpose of wanting to make American society aware of their conformity issue, and hopefully stop it.  To achieve his goal, Twain uses the strategy of rhetorical questions, which includes his audience of Americans in his writing, making them question themselves and hopefully change their actions.  He defines public opinion as “the Voice of God” when he talks about how countries get divided over issues they have no true feelings about.  When talking about this, he asks the audience, “Do you believe that a tenth part of the people, on either side, had any rational excuse for having an opinion about the matter at all? I studied that mighty question to the bottom -- came out empty.”  Because of public opinion, people have developed no true opinions and or feelings about anything; they just follow whoever the “Voice of God” is.  Americans have conformed to having no opinion at all because the only one that matters is public opinion.

When it came to women’s fashion, Twain points out, “Public opinion resented it before, public opinion accepts it now, and is happy in it. Why? Was the resentment reasoned out? Was the acceptance reasoned out? No. The instinct that moves to conformity did the work.”  Since people do not have a brain for themselves, they always conform to what society thinks is correct.  Twain wants the reader to question themselves and about their individuality in hopes to create the urge to change.  By using rhetorical questions, Twain successfully achieves his purpose by making the reader want to change and become more original.

“They All Just Went Away” by Joyce Carol Oates - 1995

Joyce Carol Oates, editor of The Best American Essays of the Century, included one of her own essays about her childhood where she explores her love of investigating abandoned houses.  She focuses on the unique and tragic story of her former neighbors, the Weidels, and the story they left behind.  She describes them as a broken family with abusive parents who drank heavily, along with four sons and two daughters.  During one horrific night, the drunk father tried to set the house on fire while his family was sleeping.  She moves into her purpose of wanting to raise awareness for people in abusive relationships, making the point that because people are living in a home that makes them feel secure, does not mean they are actually living a safe life.  Throughout the essay, Oates defines what it is to be a home, “The house contains the home, but is not identical with it. The house anticipates the home and will very likely survive it, reverting again simply to a house when the home (that is, life) departs. For only where there is life can there be home.”  The only way a house can be a home is if the family is strong and is truly loving towards one another.  Oates appeals to her audience of the average human by hitting a topic that everyone can relate to: somewhere they call home.  

She uses the Weidels as an example of what happens when the relationships people hold dearly within a home are inexistent.  Home for some people overcomes the abuse and they become convinced everything is okay when in reality, it is the complete opposite.  Oates uses the rhetorical strategy of making a comparison between the Weidels home (which is the reality for many families throughout the world) and what a house really should be.  She argues the definition, wanting people to realize that a home is not a home without healthy relationships.  She says, “... these abandoned houses where jealousy guarded, even prized possessions have become mere trash… where a house has been abandoned… you can be sure there has been a sad story.”  Oates successfully achieves her purpose of wanting people to realize that a house is not a home without a loving family by giving the tragic story of the Weidels, which represents many families in the world.  By using a topic everyone can relate to, she successfully raises awareness of domestic abuse and violence, and how people need to have the courage to leave their house because it never was a home.