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An Analysis Of Barbara Kingsolver's Once More To The Lake

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Author E.B. White is an acclaimed author most famous for books such as Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. A majority of White’s works are composed of essays just like “Once More to the Lake,” which appeared in Harper's magazine. Author Barbara Kingsolver is a talented essayist, poet, and writer. Kingsolver was educated at DePauw University and University of Arizona. Since her writing career began, Kingsolver has won many awards and written many well-known novels such as The Poisoned Bible, Prodigal Summer, and The Bean Trees. “Once More to the Lake” involves a man returning to a lake he has not visited for many years. Recurring theme is nostalgia; the issues almost solely exist because of the passing of time and the changes they bring. “Stone …show more content…

She accepts the reality that not everyone can have the perfect family. which includes single parents, blended families, no parents, and gay families. Kingsolver goes on to share that at one time, she also shared in the idea that it was necessary to have her family imitate the “Family of Dolls” model. Kingsolver’s personal stance is given the spotlight in paragraph ten where she states, “... no fairytale prepared me for the combination of bad luck and persistent hope that would interrupt my dream and lead me to other arrangements” (para 10). Divorces are a reality, and it took this reality to shatter the illusion that the “Family of Dolls” was not what she expected. Now that she is divorced and with a child, she now possesses a strong distaste for the wrongful stereotypes that are set around a “broken” family. Kingsolver’s blatant dislike for those who consider families that end in a divorce as “failed” and not finished is made evident by her angry and defiant tone throughout the essay. One of her main focus points for her essay is the archaic idealism behind the “Family of Dolls.” She then explains this reasoning by revealing the reasoning behind its origin, which was to convince women to give up their jobs for the men returning from war. Kingsolver supports this point by stating in paragraph twenty-two, “ A booming economy required a mobile labor force and demanded that

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