Once More to the Lake by E. B. White / 1941

The author of Once More to the Lake, E. B. White, was a famous author who worked as a writer and contributing editor for The New Yorker magazine. White went to college at Cornell University and later became the author of the infamous Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. Later in 1978, he earned a Pulitzer Prize special citation. It is evident that World War II did not influence White in 1941, since his essay does not relate at all to conflict.

White’s purpose was to narrate the relationship between a father and a son. He argues that at some point in every father’s life, they come to the realization that he is no longer a child and has to face the reality of growing up. The narration is written in no particular order, given that it follows the flow of his thoughts. The essay begins by explaining White’s experience when he used to go to the lake as a child. He explains that he wanted to “revisit old haunts” (White 179), so he went for a week with his son. He continues with the essay by comparing how the lake was when he used to go with his father many years ago, and how the lake was when he went with his son. He uses the rhetorical device of repetition to explain that “there had been no years” (White 181). This use of repetition in this way achieved the author’s purpose since this makes it seem as if the father is reliving his past through his son. He explains this situation clearly. “Everywhere we went I had trouble making out which was I, the one walking at my side, the one walking in my pants” (White 184). White’s intended audience is everyone, since everyone can relate to the parent-child relationship that is illustrated. The narration comes to an end when White states, “…suddenly, my groin felt the chill of death” (White 185). He explains describes that at this point, he suddenly realizes that he is not the child anymore. White accomplished his goal by using repetition and a sudden ending.

Like Father Like Son

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/28/children-favourite

Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying by Adrienne Rich / 1977

Adrienne Rich, a well-known and influential American poet, essayist and feminist, wrote Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying in 1977 in the midst of civil rights movements.  Rich graduated from Radcliffe University in 1951 for the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize for A Change of World that same year.  Later in the 1960s, Rich focused her work towards women’s role in society, racism, and the Vietnam War. She was influenced to write this essay by the feminist and civil rights movements that occurred in the 1970s and was later awarder the National Book Award.

Rich wrote this essay for the purpose of explaining that lying should not be overlooked as something natural. She argues to that truthfulness is an important aspect in a personal relationship. This essay begins with a juxtaposition that compares men’s honor to women’s honor and then is followed by motives for why we lie. She explains how lies have changed due to the demand of what is accepted at the time. She points out that we “lie with our bodies” (Rich 415) and explains that we are lying when we “pluck our eyebrows” or “glaze finger and toe nails” (Rich 415). Not only do we unknowingly lie with our bodies, Rich adds that we lie “depending on what the men of the time needed to hear” (Rich 145). The essay is capped off by Rich explaining how important she believes truthfulness is when it comes to personal relationships and that truthfulness is equivalent to extending “the possibility of life between us” (Rich 420). Rich appeals to her female audience by using repetition as a rhetorical strategy. She uses diacopes such as “the complexity and fecundity of dreams come from the complexity and fecundity of the unconscious struggling to fulfill that desire” (Rich 414), and anaphoras such as “It is important” (Rich 414) and “The liar” (Rich 413) in order to clearly achieve her purpose of expressing the importance of truthfulness. Rich accomplished her purpose clearly with the use of repetition and her educated background. 

Lying with Makeup

Rich believes wearing makeup is equivalent to lying. Do you agree?

http://makeup.lovetoknow.com/image/147180~makeup.jpg