Reading Journal E.B White "Once More to the Lake"

1. In E.B. Whites essay Once More to the Lake, he makes this a strong narrative because he tells the story from his perspective. Not only does he open up the first paragraph and answer the five Ws but, throughout the paper he uses tools and tricks. He begins the story by going back to his childhood during the summer. He talks about his past and what he would do at the camp. E.B. White uses very descriptive when describing certain things. For example, how the air was, the sound of the boats, and just the scenery. White goes into depth of explaining the little things. White talks about August being the last month of summer and that refers to him getting old/dying. He makes uses context clues that you have to really read to visualize his essay and that is what makes a strong narrative.
2. He uses the narrative path by going in chronological order. The story starts off with him going back to when he was a child and so forth. Basically he uses foreshadowing. The complexity of the narrative is very well thought of. He would put himself in his sons’ position when he was that age and then put himself at that time of his father’s self.
3. White would remember the things he did as a child that his son was doing and that made him visualize himself as “the boy.” By referring to his son as “the boy” we see him visualize that he is his son. He would constantly get I guess you could say confused in some aspects. In some things the boy did he would see himself when he was younger and some things he did as himself would be what his father used to say or do. In the last paragraph he talks about the “chill of death,” at that point in time he knew he wasn’t his son and that he was getting older.



Narrative Freewrite 7/12

      My First party experience
Summertime is when all the parties are going on every weekend and everyone gets together. During this time I was never allowed to go out to parties due to the fact my mother was very protective over me and she knew how high school parties were. For me, I felt as if I was always missing the fun and never got to do anything. My friends would upload pictures or tell me how fun the parties were and I was there, in my room, in the dark, on my phone like a hermit because I wasn’t allowed out. It sucked sitting at home.
      It was about the middle of the summer going to my junior year and I started I guess you could say dating this guy, I don’t know. He was cute had a baby face and was about three four inches taller than me. Anyway it was one day of the week and he was telling me about this party coming up that he wanted me to go with him to. Strike one. I’m all for it but, how am I going to be able to go? I already know what my mom’s going to say. Like any good child I thought of the consequences and thought is it worth getting in trouble? Should I stay home and have another boring weekend?
      It wasn’t until the night of I made my mind up. I told my mom I was staying at my friends house that lived across the street. Strike two. He called me to tell me he was outside with some of his friends to pick me up. We drive off to the party. I’m sitting the back and I start contemplating if I should tell them to turn around or not. By the time we get to the house that was the least on my mind. We walked inside and it seemed like a decent sized gathering. About an hour later that’s when everyone started showing up and the party went up from there.
      People were drinking and smoking. The house had a strong smell of different alcohols and weed. By the way weed smells like a skunk and stinks. I had never drank or smoked and didn’t plan on it. I was so scared to do anything I just sat there drinking my orange juice. My “date” was drunk and I didn’t know what to do. I felt I had to look out for him. At one point my mom and grandma called to check up on me and I had to go down the street because the music was so loud. I lied and told them I was going to sleep.
       It wasn’t until later people that weren’t invited showed up. Needless to say some people got into fights, things were broken in the house, and my “date” got jumped for his backpack. Come to find out he was selling weed. Strike three. We had to help him in the car and sped off as soon as we could. At that point in time I had no desire to go home because I knew I’d get my butt whooped. So what did I do... I spent the night at his house and slept on the couch. Strike four. When morning came around they dropped me off at my friends house and I stayed there until my mom called me home.
       Moral of the story don’t talk to boys that’s only intentions were to sell and smoke weed. Do not lie to your parents just for your sake. (I thank God my mom doesn’t know). Don’t sneak out to a party, just wait you’ll be able to go out sooner or later. Trust me you are not missing out on much.