"Once More to the Lake" by E. B. White

            When author E. B. White gazes at the reflective surface of the lake of Once More to the Lake, much more than a summer’s blue sky is reflected back. In this non-chronological anecdote, the multi-published author (including in Harper’s Magazine (Biography)) E. B. White shares his story of a memory-filled lake from his childhood that he revisits as an adult with his son. It is impossible for him to keep the past from mixing with the present as he makes nostalgic connections to his childhood. He continuously states that he cannot tell if he is the father or the son in the present day. At first, he believes the lake to be exactly the same as it was when he was a child: the same smells, the same people, the same time.  However, through the course of this adventure, he begins to realize slight changes from the childhood lake he knew. Among other things, he specifically realizes the difference in the boats: “the only thing that was wrong now, really, was the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors. This was the not that jarred, the one thing that would sometimes break the illusion and set the years moving” (White 183). This realization that this is not the 1904 lake of his childhood but the present day many years later supports his purpose to emphasize to the reader (anyone who may fall under this spell as well) the mortality of humans. The spell is broken at the end when his son goes for a swim and he stays behind, showing that they are two different people, and he “felt the chill of death” (White 185), representing the end or “death” of his childhood. White uses symbolism as the lake is meant to represent his childhood, and the changes to the lake being representative of the fact that he has changed, again supporting the fact that mortality is something every human faces. E. B. White expertly highlights the impermanence of life in Once More to the Lake as he compares his childhood to his present.

Bibliography

"Biography of E.B. White (1899-1985)." Biography of E.B. White. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Aug. 2014.

 

Belgrade Lakes

Belgrade Lakes, the lake in Maine E. B. White visited as a child and the lake that inspired Once More to the Lake

Photography by Laura Sebastianelli

"A Sweet Devouring" by Eudora Welty

            While transported to Eudora Welty’s childhood in A Sweet Devouring, the reader is permitted a look into the thoughts of a little girl who loves nothing more than reading. With a B.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin (Newsmakers), it is quite clear from Welty’s major that she has an extreme passion for all things English, making her childhood anecdote filled with passion that much more believable. In A Sweet Devouring, Welty illustrates her love for reading that began at a young age; she includes several examples of different books and her emotions towards them. For example, she took the time to draw an analogy between an original series and its knock-off, stating that “[the originals] were not as good” (Welty 250). Welty tries to have the reader understand her love for books and the role they played in her childhood, and accomplishes this flawlessly by connecting with the audience, people who share this infatuation, through figurative language and a specific style. On the topic of series, she writes, “But they weren’t all that easy to buy, because the series stuck, and to buy some of it was like breaking into a loaf of French bread” (Welty 249). Ever passionate reader shares this haunting feeling of owning an unfinished series, and she the audience to relate by drawing the simile to French bread: no one can just have one slice. This burden is shared between Welty and the reader, helping them to comprehend and accept her view on books. Again her passion for reading is shown when her mother finally brings her to the library and she thinks, “I wasn’t coming to the end of reading, after all – I was saved” (Welty 247). The way she describes this, as if she could not possibly go on without books, shows her desperation to maintain the relationship between her and reading. Eudora Welty coerces the reader into seeing the beauty books hold by transporting them to an innocent time in her life filled with endless novels in A Sweet Devouring.

Bibliography

"Eudora Welty." Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 2002. N. pag. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 29 Aug. 2014. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|K1618003551&v=2.1&u=wisstrojans&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=9c8f98dfdad12f81781fed8b59dee974>.

 

Eudora Welty In Euphoria

Eudora Welty, author of A Sweet Devouring, is shown in her personal heaven: anywhere with a book.

Picture by Mildred Nungester Wolfe