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.
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