eb white lake essay

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Analysis of E. B. White’s “Once More to the Lake”

An analysis of E.B. White’s essay Once More to the Lake

E.B. White’s essay Once More to the Lake , first published in 1941, describes his experience as he revisits a childhood lake in Maine. This revisiting is a journey in which White delights in memories associated with his childhood and the lake. In effect, his mindset transforms to go back to his childhood. This transformation is necessary for him to find enjoyment in the journey. However, the transformation also emphasizes an altered perception of the actual lake. For instance, instead of viewing the lake as it is, he uses his childhood eyes to perceive the lake. This condition creates an interesting departure from reality into what he wants to see based on his childhood experiences. Once More to the Lake is a depiction of E. B. White’s experience as he visits a lake once again – the lake that he has been fond of since childhood.

White’s experience brings him at the lakefront, at which he finds himself staring at the same lake, virtually unchanged. This means that White considers some things that do not really change in spite of the changes around it and the changes that White experiences in his life. White wants to emphasize the permanence of some things, or at least the memory of some things, despite the continual change that happens in the world.

Even though the lake did not change, White’s essay indicates that there are some changes in things that are separate from the lake. For instance, when White arrives at the lakefront, even though he wishes to enjoy the scene and the experience of being at the lake once again, he becomes somewhat bothered by the noise of the new boats that are on the lake. The new boats have noisier engines.

White wants to show that the technology can be disruptive. Even though technology can, indeed, make things become faster and more efficient, technology can also make things noisier and more disruptive. Thus, White emphasizes the negative side of new technologies. Nonetheless, a White continues his story, it is indicated that he has a liking for old engines. This liking started from his childhood. Thus, even though he first views technology as something disruptive, there is also emphasis on the personal perception factor, which means that White did not like the noise of the new engine and, arguably, did not like the new engine, because of the fact that he wants and expected to see boats with the old engines that he saw in the childhood.

Some things do not change. All things change on the basis of the underlying principle that nothing is constant in this world and that ever little thing changes. However, there are some things that do not change, such as the thought of a person, the feelings towards other people that one has, the longing for something, and so on. Perhaps, E.B. White shows the lake is unchanged, but this may be only in his own perception. The lake could have already changed when he arrives at the lakefront as an adult, but his perception of the lake does not change. He still likes what he sees and feels.

His experience of being at the lakefront brings him back to his childhood years when he experiences the lake. Considering that White shows that his perceptions actually switches from that of an adult and that of a boy, it is arguable that his actual experience of the lake as an adult is marred by such switching between perceptions. Thus, it is possible that the actual lake that he revisits is already different, but his perception, as a boy, does not change, thereby making the lake virtually unchanged. Also, the technology that he refers to, in the form of the new and noisier engines, may have also been affected by such switching in his perceptions. Perhaps the new and noisier boats are not really that disruptive. It is just that he was used to the old and less noisy ones, thereby making his claims more personal and not necessarily real.

E.B White’s lake is a symbol of the role of physical spaces in personal development. For example, the essay shows that the lake serves as a setting for familial interactions, especially in the author’s past. In relation, the lake serves as a venue for reflection. For instance, when White goes back to the lake, it facilitates his reflection of change and development. The lake helps him think back and develop a better understanding of his situation.

E.B. White’s essay “Once More to the Lake” also supports the idea of the necessity of permanence, to some extent, in life. Even though the lake has changed over the years, it remains a lake that the author can visit. It stands as a reminder of his childhood experiences. In this regard, the lake sheds light on the benefit of having some form or degree of permanence in life. Such permanence can help anchor the person and his psychological development.

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Once More to the Lake

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First published in Harper’s magazine in 1941, “Once More to the Lake” narrates White’s visit to Belgrade Lakes, Maine, where he had vacationed as a child.

Golden Pond in Belgrade Lakes. Image via Maine Travel Maven.

For a fresh look at White’s timeless children’s novel, Charlotte’s Web , read the Lit Genius original, “Hidden Threads: Revisiting "Charlotte’s Web”.

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Last Updated 17 Aug 2022

Once More to the Lake, by E.B White

“Once More to the Lake,” by E.B White is a short story that provokes reflection by exploring familial relationships and the human relation to time. It narrates the tale of a man who spent his childhood summers with his family at a rented lake property in Maine. After years apart from the sacred place, he decides to return with his son.

To the narrator's relief, the lake and its surroundings appear to be the same, at least on the surface. However, he overlooks the decades that have passed and refuses to acknowledge that there are differences in the community compared to when he went as a boy. His denial translates to the reader who is able to connect with and view the tale through the eyes of the narrator. In "Once More to the Lake, "White utilizes diction, ethos, and repetition to establish time as an antagonist, which provokes nostalgia in his readers.

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Prior to his arrival, the narrator has a negative mindset about the lake, believing that it has drastically changed for the worse. He writes, “I wondered how time would have marred this unique, this holy spot" (White 1). White structures the sentence so that time is responsible for altering the holy spot. This personification conveys time as a character, as its actions affect something else. By using the word “marred” he infers that time will have damaged his sacred place.

The alternative words that could have preceded "holy spot" range from "improved" to "changed." With this word choice, the writer establishes time as an enemy. It is not something that will contribute to his well being, rather, it will hurt him. Instead of taking a more positive outlook on what returning to the lake could bring, he presumes that it will be a bad experience, simply because time has passed and the lake has presumably changed.

In spite of his presumption, once he arrives with his son, the narrator observes that there is minimal change in the patterns of foliage and ripples on the water. As the narrator continues to recount his venture, he notes that “there had been no years”(2), then that “there [has] been no passage of time”(2,3).

He makes this remark about varied situations from a bather in the lake, to the selections of pie at the farmhouse. These phrases repeat a total of five times throughout the short story. The narrator repeats these phrases as a coping mechanism, for he denies the passage of time. He repeats the phrase in attempts to convince himself of its validity. Whether it's because he does not want to admit to aging, or because he does not want to see his son grow up, or perhaps because he misses his family vacations.

He does not want this sacred place to change because he constantly expresses that it seems untouched. He only notes the similarities between the lake and refuses to acknowledge any differences. However, if he were to remove himself from the minor details, like the pie and the lake bather he would realize that the lake has changed. While its character may remain the same, numerous families have come and gone, all of whom have different perceptions and thoughts about the location.

The country had advanced in terms of technology, which affects everything. Despite the pie flavors remaining the same, new memories have been made there, by different people. The lake has been redefined and will continue to change as time progresses, despite the narrator's rejection of this fact. In emphasis of his denial, when recounting his childhood, the narrator explains, “We returned summer after summer--always on August 1st for one month”(1).

This is one of the opening phrases of the entire story which immediately emphasizes a certain rigidness in routine due to its structure. It almost seems militant--as though the vacation is some sort of obligation, not a leisurely getaway with the family. The repetition of "summer after summer” informsa reader that this was an annual vacation.

It was a tradition of both comfort and necessity. Articulated by his obsession with the timing and scheduling of this trip, the narrator finds comfort in routine. Furthermore, the specified date of “August 1st" permits one to assume that if the vacation had any other date, it would not be the same as it usually is, and therefore not as special in the eyes of the narrator.

There was no room for error in his childhood vacations. He then mentions the exact length of each vacation. Again, the author utilizes personal pronouns which places the reader directly into the mind of the narrator. The use of repetition exposes the narrator's desire to avoid change, which then leads a reader to think the same way. He wants his childhood vacation to stay consistent, even decades later when he returns to the lake as an adult.

White writes in an anecdotal tone to guide the reader to view time as an enemy. He opens with silly tales about ringworm and dad flipping a canoe. A reader can easily relate the experiences of the narrator to his or her own family vacations. Additionally, he uses personal pronouns like "we" or "I,” which enable readers to easily insert their own characters. The narrator of "Once More to the Lake" views time through a negative lens which alters the reader's opinion.

White's use of ethos appeals to his audience, which provides a direct avenue for nostalgia and memories. It stimulates thought about family vacations and sacred places and how time affects the two, which further engages the reader because it proposes a personal connection to the story. White’s piece is thought provoking through its applicability.

He writes a story that appeals to a wide audience on an emotional level and strategically repeats phrases that embody the denial of time. Time becomes an antagonist in “Once More to the Lake," for not only does it possess control of the narrator, but it works against him and his motives and desires. White's piece provokes nostalgia and reminiscence in the mind of a reader. He also installs a certain level of fear of time in his readers, which ultimately teaches them to live in the present and cherish moments.

Once More to the Lake by E B Whites Overview

An Analysis of E. B Whites, “Once More to the Lake” In E. B Whites essay, “Once More to the Lake” he reflects on his summer outing with his son. Throughout the trip, memories of his childhood, long forgotten, resurface themselves as he experiences the same vacation with his own son. These memories create in him a feeling as if time has not changed and that he is reliving his old days. His father used to take him to the same camping spot as a boy.

He was certain that there would be changes since then, but on arrival his senses are awakened and old feelings revived as he takes in the unchanged sights, sounds, and smells of the peaceful lake in Maine. The overall theme of this story is the acceptance of aging and the passing of time. The passage of time throughout the story has a relentless hold on White, he struggles throughout as reality becomes harder and harder for him to grasp. The author incorporates many literary devices which add to his overall vivid descriptions and comparisons, a few which include: imagery, tone, and symbolism.

By these techniques the narrator is able to set the reader’s imagination on fire! Throughout this literary work detailed comparisons are blended in as he remembers his own vacation to the lake as a young boy. These comparisons make it hard for him to face the fact that he has aged very much since that time. The feelings and emotions these reincarnated memories create bring about sensations of a “dual existence” (25) in White. The narrators detailed diction in describing these emotions and senses that are being brought back and relived, arouse similar feelings in the reader.

It makes us empathize for the now, grown man. He remembers such things as the smell of his bedroom, “picking up a bait box, or a table fork” (25), as well as many other intricate details. Everything seems to bring him back to the cherished memories he had stored for so many years of him camping on the lake with his own father. The imagery used in the essay enhances the overall experience. Another important technique which adds to this story is how the author meticulously compares the past with the present. For the duration of the story White repeats the same phrase, “there has been no years” (25, 26).

He feels as if time is at a standstill. The tone that the speaker incorporates, works to bring out deep emotions in the reader. We feel for him as he describes this, “utterly enchanted sea” (26). The reverence he has for the, “peace, and goodness, and jollity” (27) of this special place reveals itself in multiple occasions of the story. He upholds this seemingly sanctuary in the utmost respect as it holds the memories of him and his father. In the course of time, this dwelling place of remembrance will rebirth into future generations.

Something’s that have changed about the place, bring white back to the reality of time and aging. He speaks of how he came upon an old path used by horse drawn carriages back in his day, it used to have three tracks, but now that the automobile was invented only two were seem, etched in the dirt, tire tracks from the cars passing to and from. He states that for a moment he, “missed terribly the middle alternative” (26). Although this actuality is brought up, White pushes it aside and adopts his dual existence willingly.

He continues to imagine that he is his father, and his son, is in fact him, he states, “which was I, the one walking at my side, the one walking in my pants” (28). White notices another difference, in this otherwise, so familiar place, it was the sound of outboard motors, “unfamiliar nervous sound” (27). They are sounds that bring him out of his dream world; he is distraught over these changes. This makes us believe that the very thought of these dissimilarities were unbearable for him to cope with. He was in denial of the fact that time had passed.

The symbolism used in this essay is brought about in a clear manner when White describes the thunderstorm. This storm is used to represent a sort of rebirth. The rain comes and there is a sudden sense that there is a, “return of light, and hope, and spirits” (29). At this point he begins to see the trip in a whole new perspective or “light” (29). He is hit with a sudden realization that though everything seems just the same, he can make the connection that this is a new generation and new memories are soon to be fabricated, “linking the generations in a strong, indestructible chain” (29).

In the end he is forced to face the absoluteness of time. As he watches his son slip into his cold, wet swimming trunks he once again imagines it is himself then he is suddenly hit with a, “chill of death” (29). He realizes that switching places with his father also means he is going to die. He is brought to the fact that much time has passed. This leads to his concluding acceptance of his own mortality. He wanted so dearly to hold onto the memories of old and never acknowledge the fact that the times had changed, yet deep down he knew that this would be impossible.

In the end White embraced the process of aging and found the good that could stem from it; but it was clear that throughout the narrative the overall theme was his struggle in the acceptance of aging and the passing of time. He concludes that eventually he can use these memories and experiences to connect with future generations of his son, and furthermore his son’s son. He did not have to hold onto the false idea that aging was a curse but he was able to let go and take it as more of a blessing.

He would be able to pass these memories on for years and years to come. People should certainly accept the fact that everyone ages and time goes by quick. Every new moment counts and wonderful memories, experiences, and also wisdom can ultimately be cherished and passed on to further generations of people through these durations of time. Abraham Lincoln once said, “And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years”, this quote rings true in the inspirational story, “Once More to the Lake”.

Once More to the Lake

During his vacation White notices that although the arrival to the lake was deferent, as well as the boats which were on the lake, the lake Itself had not changed at all. The commute to the lake had changed from what E. B. White had originally experienced as a child. The trip to the lake was now a completely new experience. Originally, getting to the lake was a long, highly anticipated Journey, starting with the train station and loading luggage onto horse buggies which would take them on a ten mile trip leading to the lake. The anticipation would grow as the carriage got closer to the lake.

Coming over the last hill to see the lake and other campers cheering for your arrival was full of excitement. Now, there was no train station and there was no carriage ride. The excitement had been diminished by the newer paved road which led to within one half mile of the lake. The road now was the cause of campers to pull right up to their camp and unload in a quick amount of time and without being detected by fellow campers. Another change which had transpired was the updates of the camp Itself. The path to the lake was not the only one that had changed through the years.

Walking three tracks in the road, but two. There used to be a middle track that was made by the horses pulling the carriages of people to dinner at the restaurant. Now, the path no longer was one for horses. Also, the store's parking lot used to be dirt and gravel, but is now paved for customers driving their cars to buy "manufactured drinks" rather than the root beer and birch beer White would buy when he was a child. Change was expected by E. B. White, but the one change he did not enjoy was the motor boats cruising across the water of the lake.

Their newer designs with the outboard motors were unsettling to White and disturbed the peacefulness of the lake. The older boats had an inboard motor which was a much softer, relaxing sound which aided in the relaxation of a summer vacation. Even the way the boats were operated had changed as well. The older boats were not equipped with reverse, so landing the boat at the dock required a more sense of confidence, so you didn't crash into the dock with a speedy approach. Though there were many changes, one thing had not changed and that is the lake itself.

Through all the changes E. B. White still managed to grasp the feeling that time had not really passed by because the lake remained the same to him. It is the one thing that kept people returning. The smells of the lake, the activities done by people on the lake, the fish that swam in its water, the people and the people too all had remained as White once knew it. He is fishing with his son at one point and a dragonfly lands on the end of his fishing pole and he describes that moment as if no mime had passed since he went fishing with his own dad as a boy.

Even the paddle boat they were fishing from was the same color and had the same details as he remembered as if it were the exact boat he paddled in before. One of the afternoons of their week-long stay a thunderstorm came and sent everyone returning to their camp. There White watched the storm come in Just as he had before. It was a fascinating spectacle for him to see the lightning, hear the thunder, and watch the rain fall on the lake as the storm moved on. As the storm left, people would come ace out to the lake in their swimsuits to swim in the rain.

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

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1.In paragraphs two, ten, and twelve of “Once More to the Lake,” White’s brilliant use of metaphors, similes, and personification illustrates a lucid image of the speaker’s intertwining past and present for the reader. White starts paragraph ten with a fragment, “Peace and goodness and jollity,” and creates a great emphasis on his past and current feelings. He continues to illustrate his past memories with a personification of the vocal senses as he explains the sound of the motorboats; “the one-lungers throbbed and fluttered, and the twin-cylinder ones purred and purred, and that was a quiet sound too.

” He then compares this beautiful memory of the past to his current experience of the outboard powerboats, and exclaims, “These motors … whined about one’s ears like mosquitoes.”

This contrasting simile outlines the speaker’s transition from one point of time to another within his illusion. He continues to use a metaphor to describe the behavior of the old boats, and explains, “The boat would leap ahead, charging bull-fashion at the dock.

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” After a thunderstorm passes, White describes his son as he is entering the water; “As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.” The “chill of death” is a metaphor for the truth White finds himself a part of, even though he is experiencing both his past and present.

He realizes that the life course that leads to death starts with birth, and that his son’s maturity also means that the end of White is approaching.

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This, along with his allusion between past and present, allow White to develop his universal truth within his text. At first, while his illusion from the similar shape of the outdoors gives the false perception that time has not past, his pinpointing of the different identities of the son and father serves as testimony that the cycle from birth to death is universal.

2.In “Once More to the Lake,” White utilizes connotative words and phrases to establish the illusion that is the connection between childhood and adulthood. In his return to the lake, many years after his childhood, White confronts multiple changes as he struggles with the illusion that the peaceful world of his childhood, and his present existence within it, remain the same. In paragraph one, White describes the things that remind him of past memories with the words, “Restlessness of the tides and the fearful cold of the sea water and the incessant wind.” These words all have negative connotations, and let the reader know that the speaker’s present experiences make him wish to go back “to revisit old haunts.”

These words and their negative connotations are crucial to the nature of the illusion the speaker is describing. It provides the pretext of why he wishes for memories of his past. White says, while fishing with his son; “I looked at the boy who was silently watching his fly, and it was my hands that held his rod, my eyes watching. I felt dizzy and didn’t know which rod I was at the end of.” These connotative words allow White to establish a connection between young and old, past and present, then and now. These linked ideas blur the line between birth and death, and serve to establish the truth that the cycle from creation and mortality is universal.

3.White employs many descriptive details throughout his story. He creates contrasting symbols, almost placed as an antithesis, to illustrate his realization of age, and the universality of life to death. Taking his son fishing is the event that convinces him “beyond any doubt that everything was as it always had been, that the years were a mirage and that there had been no years.” A dragonfly that lands on the tip of his son’s fishing rod ignites this feeling that the two, both son and father, are the same individual. When he lowered the tip of his rod “into the water, tentatively, pensively dislodging the fly, which darted two feet away, poised, darted two feet back, and came to rest again a little farther up the rod,” he asserts that “there had been no years between the ducking of this dragonfly and the other one – the one that was part of memory.”

Here, White’s language has bulls-eye precision, and the dragon fly is transformed into a representation of the continuous cycle of life and death. The present mixing with his past experience is again validated with details of the lake that “had never been what you would call a wild lake.” It is a calm, tranquil, and bounded place where youth is apparent. Here, the lake represents the familiarity of one’s past. This description is contrasted with the sea, as it comes right after the description of the endless body of water. The sea has the remnant memories of “restlessness of the tides and the fearful cold of the sea water and the incessant wind.” The sea symbolizes the harshness of aging, while the lake symbolizes the familiarity and safety of youth and the past.

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E.B. White's Once More to the Lake Essay

Theme of escapism in the boat.

Notwithstanding their partner’s contempt of reading and writing, both the father in “The Boat,” and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” continue to search for reprieve through their respective books and diary.

Rhetorical Analysis Of Once More To The Lake

In the text “Once More to the Lake” author E.B. White focuses on appealing to fathers or even possibly parents in general. The text is eloquently written to ultimately reiterate that change is constant and at some point in life all people will eventually die. His primary goal of this text is to enjoy the moments in one’s life before life is over. A nostalgic tone is used throughout when comparing his childhood memories to the current memories he is making with his own son. White is effective in illustrating his purpose by using techniques such as logos, ethos, pathos, and imagery to encourage his audience to be aware that their own lives are inevitably growing older each day.

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Theme Of Greasy Lake

The author symbolizes the water as transition and spirituality, the lake is symbolized as the elusive badness the boys want so badly. The narrator notices that none of them are as bad as they try to act. After that night the narrator realizes he cannot make it in that life, rather the narrator wants to go to the safety and security of his home and parents.

“Greasy Lake” Essay

Thus the narrator of the story, as an older and more mature man, tells the story as an introspective look back at his misadventures. The protagonist begins to gain some insight into his possible future while in the “primordial ooze” (Boyle, 119) of Greasy lake .After finding the floating body and dealing with the destruction of his mothers battered station wagon he is mre reflective of the situation he is in. The narrator, looking back at

The Grace That Keeps This World

When Kevin sees his father almost dying, he begins to think of the fatherless children in the world. He extends grace towards fathers in general by thinking how important a role they play in a child’s life, regardless of the mistakes that they might make. After thinking about fathers in general, he then thinks about his own father and as Bailey puts it, “ The caring-the carefulness-which was the belief in holding on to something worth preserving and passing on. Love. Kevin felt the tide of emotion that had been at its lowest ebb flowing back into him again. He looked to his Dad”. (259-260). Instead of remaining angry at his Dad for previous conflicts or for accidentally shooting his brother, Kevin extends grace to his Dad when he chooses instead to think and remember about all the love and caring his father has ever shown him. When he begins to feel that love for his father, his emotions pick up and that gives him the grace to keep on going without emotionally breaking down.

Discovering Mortality in Once More to the Lake Essay

E. B. White's story "Once More to the Lake" is about a man who revisits a lake from his childhood to discover that his life has lost placidity. The man remembers his childhood as he remembers the lake; peaceful and still. Spending time at the lake as an adult has made the man realize that his life has become unsettling and restless, like the tides of the ocean. Having brought his son to this place of the past with him, the man makes inevitable comparisons between his own son and his childhood self, and between himself as an adult and the way he remembers his father from his childhood perspective. The man's experience at the lake with his son is the moment he discovers his own

Literary Analysis Of Once More To The Lake

First and foremost, “Once More to the Lake” by E.B White develops the theme by applying amazing flashbacks and outstanding sensory details. In the passage White struggles with his identity and accepting reality which leads to a huge problem that developed, man vs self. By returning to the lake with his son, White remembers all the memories he had built in the years before when he went with his father, “I guess I remembered clearest of all the early mornings, when the lake was cool and motion less, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and of the wet woods whose scent entered through the screen” (White page 1). The sensory detail in that line helped the readers picture the surroundings and to show how much love White has for the lake and the memories he created in the past. During the

E. B. White'sSuperman And Me, And Once More To The Lake

I began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, I was my father”(White 2). One can gather that White's father is the idyllic parental figure ,and every kid dreams of having one. E.B. Whites father guided him through life and taught him how to create a tradition. He gave examples of what being there for a son means. Showing them how to bond with one another and cherish every moment. Plus he shows his son how to be a family man and how to spend time with your loved one’s. However, not every child has a father figure, as that in the one in “Once More to the Lake” , guiding and developing them into young men/ women.

Once More To The Lake E. B White Analysis

“Once More to the Lake” is an essay written by E.B. White. After revisiting a childhood vacation spot with his son, White witnesses his son complete the generational cycle thus making him realize his own mortality. While on this vacation White sees himself as his father and his son through seeing his son have similar experiences at the lake. White takes notice of the changes that have occurred at the lake overtime.

Pleasing Others In Ethan Canin's Star Food

This theme is evident in the very beginning of the story, when he discussed how he disappointed his parents for the first time. In the second line of the first paragraph, the main character states “What disappointed one usually pleased the other.” (Canin,1) As the story progresses, we understand more about what this quote means. Whenever

Once More To The Lake Eb White Summary

White uses precise phrases in his writing to allow his readers to sense the same feeling of the lake as him. Because of his precise writing, the peruser can envision every

Once More To The Lake Analysis

Elwyn Brooks “E.B.” White is an American writer. He is a well know author for writing “Stuart Little (1945)”, “Charlottes Web (1952)”, and “The Trumpet of the Swan (1970)”. E.B. White was born July 11, 1899, in Mount Vernon, New York and died on October 1, 1985 suffering from Alzheimer's disease, at his farm home in North Brooklin, Maine. White also contributed to the New Yorker Magazine and was a co-writer of English language style guide The Elements of Style. Through this story, Once More to the Lake is a reflection of White’s childhood memories that he is now sharing with his sons and we see how this trip to the lake means everything to him.

Common Themes In 'Forgetfulness, AndOnce More To The Lake'

First and foremost, there are differences in mood and tone to show common themes between the two pieces of writing. In “Once More to the Lake,” it says, “...and having the boy sneak quietly out and go along the shore in a boat. I began to sustain that he was I,” (White 2) and also reads, “I seemed to be living in a dual existence.” (White 2). These two quotations show how the character is caught up in his past memories. The tone and mood of these two quotes are very deep and express how the character cannot tell past and present. He is fogged up by his memories and keeps reminiscing about his past. He feels that everything is the same as before. His memories affect him so much that he can almost feel his past self in his own son. Next, “ In “Forgetfulness,” it reads, “No wonder the moon in the window seems to have

Dealing with the Loss of a Loved One in The Arena by Martin Golan

The themes that occurs in this short story is the strong bond between a parent and their child. What also seems to be involved is the hope of escaping the pastlife and memories. Maybe it is the mental state of the mind that is on focus. The flashbacks and thougts about the past life could also mean that he misses his old life. So missing

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