Once More to the Lake and The Ring of Time Essay -- Comparative, White

In E.B. White’s essays, â€Å"Once More to the Lake â€Å"and ‘The Ring of Time†, he demonstrates two different interpretations of time and how time is used to symbolize meaning in each piece. â€Å"Once More to the Lake† is an essay that is derived mostly from White’s personal experience while â€Å"The Ring of Time† is an essay that mostly examines a teenage girl performing at the circus, in the eyes of White. Both these essays give the reader insight of how the author uses the theme of time to show different aspects to the storyline. In White’s essays, he uses similar strategies that reflect on the past and foresee the future, use other individuals as vehicles to access an alternative temporality, and demonstrate his own perceptions and visions in order to explore the reality and different notions of time. Both stories are similar in a sense that White writes them from a present time setting; however, he explores the notions of time differently since he reflects on his past in â€Å"Once More to the Lake† while he foresees the girl’s future in â€Å"The Ring of Time.† In â€Å"The Ring of Time,† White writes about his being at the circus and spotting â€Å"a girl of sixteen or seventeen, politely treading her way through the onlookers who blocked the entrance†¦the richness of the scene was in its plainness, its natural condition-of horse, of ring, of girl...a ring of ambition, of happiness, of youth† (2-3). However, after a week or two, â€Å"all would be changed, all lost: the girl would wear makeup† (White, The Ring of Time 3)and, because of that, he envisions her â€Å"twenty-five years ahead, and she was now in the center of the ring†¦wearing a conical hat and hi-heeled shoes, the image of an older woman, holding the l ong rein, caught in the treadmill of an after... ...ity of time in both â€Å"The Ring of Time† and â€Å"Once More to the Lake.† These strategies include reflecting on the past and foreseeing the future, using other characters as vehicles, and having a personal perception of time. To sum it all up, both stories have similarities such as being written in the present. However, they have many differences. Both stories may use a technique of viewing the theme of time, but they are each solitary and dissimilar to each other. Also, each story has a character that isn’t the narrator but instead, the one that is used to explore time, whether it is looking back at the past or looking ahead in to the future. White made both these stories personal pieces of writing; however â€Å"Once More to the Lake† is more reflective while â€Å"The Ring of Time† is more of a public piece. All in all, each story is quite similar but very different as well.