Once More to the Lake

The surprising conclusion to "Once More to the Lake” was an eye-opener for the readers. I believe the ending absolutely did not ruin the piece due to the simple fact that the ending was used to hit readers with a huge life lesson. Throughout the essay, White was preparing the readers for the conclusion, even in the title, but White made the readers so mesmerized by the amazing imagery he provides, it distracted them from the main point of the essay which is why some may say it ruined the piece. The concluding sentence of the piece was "as he buckled the swollen built, suddenly my groin feel the chill of death” which means that the speaker will die just like his father and his son will eventually die like him, and as he sees his son going to the water, he realizes the tradition of going to the lake will eventually stop. White prepares us for the startling conclusion first by giving us the title "Once More to the Lake " which, when I read it, thought that it was going to be another trip to the lake that will certainly happen again but since I've seen the conclusion and understand why the conclusion was used, it obviously means it will be their last time going to lake, which explains why the author uses so much detail, it was to symbolize the feeling of reminiscing about something and trying to remember everything about the lake because the speaker is running out of time. The author also reminded us of part of his lesson about how little time we have an earth and how fast it can fly by when he says "I began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, I was my father”. When I read this quote, I started thinking that the speaker would end up being his father, which technically happened, but it really shows that even though he wants to go back to childhood and experience the lake as a kid again, it's not going to happen. But, this simply proves his point of his lesson, which is that you’ll never be able to go back and enjoy your...