Summary of the Essay Once More to the Lake from the Book Visions/BBS Second Year

Once More to the Lake

- Elwyn Brooks White

Brief Summary and Main Idea:

Once More to the Lake is a personal narrative essay written by the writer E.B. White. The essay is a recollection of the writer’s childhood memories related to the lake in Maine, where he had gone to celebrate his vacation as a child with his father in 1904. When he was five, he had gone to the lake with his father, and now he revisits the lake after a long time with his son Joel. After revisiting the lake with his son, he starts remembering the moments that he had spent with his father. He starts going through the details of his childhood vacation and feels like his son is now experiencing the same experiences. He becomes nostalgic after reaching the place because it reminds him his childhood time which was full of joy and happiness.

After going to the lake, he feels that the tarred roads are new to him, but the lake, its shape and its cool motion is same. While revisiting there, he wishes to enjoy the lake, but he becomes bothered by the noise of some new motor boat engines. He remembers enjoying his time there when he had come there with his father, and now his son also enjoys his time. He again remembers that they used to do fishing and catch fish by using baits (बल्छीमा राखीने चारा), and now they have the same experience. Not only this, he recollects that there used to be campers, and now campers are also there. After this, he starts comparing his past and present. In the past, there was peace, jollity and goodness, but now he finds the sound of the motor engines disruptive (उदेगलाग्दो /बाधा पुर्याउने). His son gets mastery over driving the motor boats, but he does not like the sound of the engine because the noise has made the environment troublesome. After comparing his past and present, the writer wants to show that the technology can be disruptive. Even though technology can make things become faster and more efficient, technology can also make things noisier and more disturbing. Thus, he emphasizes the negative side of new technologies, and the changes that are created by technology.

More, after this comparison, the theme of the essay can also be clearly understood by the title itself. The main idea is that some things do not change in the world, but all things change on the basis of the universal principle that nothing is constant in this world, so everything changes with the passage of time. But there are some things that cannot be changed like a person’s memory, thought, feelings, perception, longing for something, etc. Talking on the context of the writer’s memory, he says that the lake is unchanged, but this may be only in his perception. In fact, the lake could have already changed, but his perception of the lake does not change. He still feels the same what he has in his memory. In this regard, the essay also supports the idea of the necessity of permanence because it can help to provide love, joy, optimism, energy, hope, etc. to a person in his or her life.