Reading Journal 1 || E.B. White || "Once More to the Lake"

1. E.B White brings rhetorical devices into Once More to the Lake to create a strong narrative. He displays the use of nostalgia by remembering when he was a young boy, like his son, going out to the lake with his father, like himself, and cherishing the moments. These moments were described in it's complexity in the story dragging the readers in. He also presents certain motifs or ideas throughout the story, as in the tar road, fishing and youth. These main ideas creates an emphasis which enhances the story a bit more.
2. The efficient use of imagery and sensory details, involves the readers into the story. It forces them to reflect on the overall human experience gained at the closure of the story.  This also provides a lesson which was learned from the experience. The sensory details, which uses our five senses into the descriptions of many sentences in the story, lets us also experience the event with the author. These details help the narrative and are crucial to support, explain and enhance the story.
3. E.B. White gives the following description, "... the boat was the same boat, the same color green and the ribs broken in the same places, and under the floor-boards the same freshwater leavings and debris— the dead helgramite, the wisps of moss, the rusty discarded fishhook, the dried blood from yesterday’s catch" (5). This quote defends my opinion because it expresses lots of sensory details that forces the reader to imagine what it feels like to be in the shoes of the White. Involving the reader into the story with the use of imagery and sensory details makes it more interesting because it recreates the entire scene for the reader to imagine and feel. A feeling of suspense arises as the reader is revealed the details slowly. Lastly, in the quote we see the use of colors, descriptions of objects, sounds, and the feeling of the whole scene is brought into the present, real life.