Once More to the Lake

E.B. White’s Once More to the Lake, is structured in the way of a reflection. White releases his memories about the lake he visited as a kid and currently as an adult. White’s love for the lake causes him to write Once More to the Lake, in the view of himself as a kid with his father and in the present as a father with his son. The first sentence of the story states “…my father rented a camp on a lake in Maine and took us there for the month of August…. We returned summer after summer.” This sentence is expressing how White loved going to the lake and after he went the first time, he never stopped going. Also, E.B. White stated; “My boy loved our rented outboard, and his great desire was to achieve single-handed mastery over it, and authority…” This quotation elaborates on the fact that like White himself, his son loves engines as well, and reflects on the fun he had discovering engines while he was a kid. Basically, White puts us in his shoes as himself as a kid on the lake, then puts us in his shoes as a father bringing his son to the lake to enjoy the summer.

E.B White is noticing his family is continuing a tradition that he started with his parents. He reflects on the moment when he states; “…the children screaming with delight at the new sensation of bathing in the rain, and the joke about getting drenched linking the generations in a strong indestructible chain.” He emphasizes on his generation of the family connecting with his son’s generation. By “a strong indestructible chain”, White means that the tradition of going to the lake will continue and nothing is stopping him from going to the lake every year. At the end, White is struggling to see his son jump into the water during the thunderstorm like White did as a kid. White was remembering when he was a kid and had fun while his father watched him. In this last paragraph, White is elaborating on the father like son characteristic and family traditions will always continue.

Story of an Hour

I feel as if the nature of Mrs. Mallard's heart problem is related to the death of her husband Brently Mallard in the railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallards heart problems are ironic to the story because her heart is  "broken" after hearing about the death of her husband and now she can not function the way she used to be able to. Essentially, her husband was the force that kept her heart beating and functioning the right way, if she can't see her husband, she can't work meaning she can't live a normal life. This separation lead to her heart being infected as a result of broken love. The setting in The Story of an Hour is connected to Mrs. Mallard's life without Brently. The setting of the front door is what separates Mrs. Mallards and Mr. Mallards lives. The door blocks them from seeing each other and Mrs. Mallard not knowing that Mr. Mallard is still alive. Then the room symbolizes Mrs. Mallard being limited to her self without Mr. Mallard and she can not live the same way. The Mallards are in a relationship where Mr. Mallard works and Mrs. Mallard stays at home. If they do not see each other enough, they become very lonely and can not live the same way they used to. Love was the connection between the two of them.

Good Reading Good Writing

In order for your story to be good, it has to be interesting and catching. If the story is not interesting, the reader has no intention to continue to read a boring book. The writing has to be clear and illustrate a theme or meaning for the reader to catch on to keep reading. Other wise, readers lose their interest in the book and throw it away. A good reader is someone who is actively engaged with the book. Whether it’s by highlighting, underlining, circling unknown words, a reader must be annotating the paper. If a reader does not annotate, it shows either the person didn’t read it, or the person doesn’t read carefully. Also, A good reader asks questions about sections of the text they don’t understand or words they don’t understand. But, reading and writing influence each other. From being a good reader, the next time you write a paper, you remember what you saw in other peoples writings and remember to include the necessary criteria to make your paper improve. Then from being a good writer, readers often look for grammar, sentence fluency, and more literary criteria that they can spot in another’s paper. Overall, frequent readers help frequent writers improve, while frequent writers help frequent readers improve helping to create good reading and good writing.