By: Matt, Veronica, Dennis, and Ashley

Speaker
Father who takes his son to the same lake he went to with his father as a child
Follows similar path as father

Glorifies the past (has a bias) It seemed to me, as I kept remembering all this, that those times and those summers had been infinitely precious and worth saving. There had been jollity and peace and goodness.

Occasion
At a camp on a lake in Maine A father and son go on a camping trip at a lake
At first the trip seems to mirror the experiences the narrator had with his father at the lake years earlier During the trip he comes to a realization of mortality.

It was the arrival of this fly that convinced me beyond any doubt that everything was as it always had been, that the years were a mirage and that there had been no years.

Audience
1) Adults in general
Story explores time changes It is strange how much you can remember about places like that once you allow your mind to return into the grooves that lead back.

2) Fathers/Parents
Explores the father-son relationship I took along my son, who had never had any fresh water up his nose and who had seen lily pads only from train windows.

Purpose
Discovered mortality
Realizes that, like his father, he too will meet death as he buckled the swollen belt, suddenly my groin felt the chill of death.

Loss of Youth
Cant relive the childhood awe he once had at the lake I began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father.

Subject
Passage of time
There had always been three tracks to choose from in choosing which track to walk in; now the choice was narrowed down to two.

Inevitable death (and discovery of mortality) Loss of youth Trip to the lake

How different is the lake?

The narrator is curious about how time would have marred the lake he and his son are visiting. He doesnt want time to change his precious memory of the lake. As they get closer to the lake he notices the paved road and wonders in what other ways it would be desolated.

Things are the same

When the narrator first arrives at the lake he says I could tell that it was going to be pretty much the same as it had been before. During their first fishing activity the narrator saw the dragonfly land on his fishing rod and this convinces him beyond any doubt that everything was as it has always been. The use of the in front of dragonfly lets the reader know that he is familiar with the dragonflies at the lake. Also, later on in the story our narrator sees the cultist that has always been there and reinforces that There had been no years.

But truthfully, the lake has changed

When the narrator and his son go for a swim in the lake the narrator remarks on how nothing has changed, except the merest suggestion of a breeze. This foreshadows the bigger changes yet to be realized. At first the narrator doesnt believe that the change has happened. He says that there has been no passage of time, only the illusion of it as in a dropped curtain. The narrator also speaks of how the same waitresses were there but the only change is that their hair had been washed and he goes on to say that they only washed their hair because they had been to the movies and seen the pretty girls with the clean hair. This suggests that the changes to the lake are not natural and due to outside influences.

Definite changes of the lake

The most noticeable change to the lake was the sound of the place. The sound of the motors now make a petulant, irritable sound and whined about ones ears like mosquitoes. The sound of the motors used to be a sedative, an ingredient of summer sleep. This change is caused by the outside causes of the world, much like the waitresses washing their hair. Another noticeable change is the road to the farmhouse. Now there are only two tracks to walk on where there had always been three. This change is the result of less people traveling on that path so the road naturally shrunk to two lanes.

Mental changes for the narrator

The narrator notices all the physical changes to the lake but he has also changed mentally. The arriving at the camp is a completely different experience for him. It used to be full of excitement and so big a business in itself but now the arrival is less exciting because it only takes five minutes and it was all over with no fuss. This shows how the narrator has grownup and matured over his years away from the lake. He also says that those memories seemed as if they were infinitely precious and worth saving. His hesitancy reminds the readers that memories are not completely reliable because the brain naturally forgets bad times the further in the past a memory is.

Parent-child Relationship: Diction

- pg.179 - The narrator, now a grown man, is reminiscing on the time when he went to the "rented camp on the lake in Maine" with his dad. The fact that he thinks back to that time in his life asserts that he not only misses his childhood but also the position of being the child and having a father around. - pg.180 - The fact that the narrator knew that the trip was "going to be pretty much the same" shows that not only do things look the same but they also feel the same. The narrator also "began to sustain an illusion" that he was his father and that his son was actually himself when he was a child. This proves that the narrator still wishes that his father was still around and wants to have a close relationship with him again. By having this illusion that he was his father, makes him feel closer to his father, just like when he was still a child.

- pg.181 - The narrator states that "my hands held his rod". "His" being the narrator's son. But at the same time the narrator held his own rod. This shows that the narrator is stuck between reality and imagination where in reality he is the father but this illusion causes him to believe, almost even wish, that he was the son just so he could feel that relationship with his father again.

Images and Detail

- pg.179 - the vividly detailed images that the narrator creates inside his mind such as, "the fearful cold of the sea water" and "the incessant wind that blows across the afternoon", help persuade him to visit the lake once again, but this time with his own son. - pg.184 - the narrator goes into description of the past. He starts to reminisce and remembers the "small steamboat" which had a "long rounded stern like the lip of a Ubangi". He also remembers back to when he would eat "donuts dipped in sugar" while "older boys played their mandolins" and "girls sang". The fact that the narrator is reminiscing, in detailed images, about many things that happened in his previous visits to the lake, portrays that he does miss being the child in this fatherson relationship. - pg.185 - at the end of that paragraph, the narrator watches his son go swimming. He describes his son's body as "hard" and "little". He also says that his son is "skinny" and "bare". It is as if he is watching a mirror image of himself when he was still a child. Instead of describing his son, he gives a description of himself, when he was still a child.

Syntax
- pg.179 - the fact that the narrator only talks about the "lake in Maine" that he had always visited with his father, makes him seem to be extremely anxious to visit it again. The only difference this time is that he will bring his own son. Where as last time, he was with his father so it is a switch in roles for the narrator. - pg.181 - at the end of the first paragraph, the narrator included many commas which slow down the way the sentence is read. This creates a dramatic type of effect. - pg.183 - the narrator goes into detail about the motorboat that he had rented for his son and himself. The sentences are longer and do not have many commas which speed them up a bit. The sped up sentence structure could relate to the motorboats because in general, when thinking of motorboats, speeding across widespread water is involved.

Tone and Audience

- The narrator's tone seems to vary throughout the passage. It starts off as some ecstatic because he is finally going back to the lake in Maine that he would always go to with his dad. But as he arrives to the lake with his own son, the tone seems to change the more the narrator starts to intervene the past with the present. As the narrator continues to get caught up in his past relationship with his father, the tone tends to get somewhat gloomy. The narrator pays no attention to his own son but instead feels like he is his father and his son is him in the past. The more the narrator gets stuck in the past, the gloomier the tone becomes. - The audience that could relate to the parent-child relationship is any adult who has a child of their own. They could easily relate to this short story because of similar situations that parents encounter with their children. Situations like these could be comparible to past events that the parents have gone through as a child.

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

- Ethos - the narrator comes of as the type of person that lives in the past, at least when it comes to situations where his dad was involved. The entire time at the lake, everything he saw or did brought up the past. He repeatedly compared the past and the present. It can be interpreted that he misses being the son in the relationship and wants to be close to his father again.

- Pathos - the narrator's emotion comes off to be saddening. This can be inferred because he is more focused on reminiscing about the past instead of actually enjoying the present with his own son.
- Logos - since the narrator is constantly stuck in his past, it can be inferred that something in his present is missing that he had with the past. Most likely, it is the close connection that he had with his dad. The fact that he feels like he is both the father and the son at the lake, shows his strong connection that he had with his dad.

Visual

Description
The image shows a father and son fishing off opposite sides of a boat as the sun sets. Only the dark silhouettes of the father and his son are shown. There appears to be deliberate parallelism between the father and his son. One of the only noticeable differences between the two halves of the picture is the grass growing on the right.

Parallelism
The father and son are nearly standing in the same position. Both are wearing hats and similar clothing. The oars of the boat are in almost identical positions. Both hold their poles in a similar way. The father and son are both shaded to make only their silhouettes visible. The landscape behind them is almost identical.

Tones
Overall, the photograph seems to have a peaceful and reminiscent tone. The sunset suggests that the day of fishing has ended for the man and his son, but the vibrant colors suggest that they are not upset. The lake is smooth behind them, creating a sense of calm. The photograph was taken in what seems to be undisturbed nature and the subjects are undisturbed. This creates serenity. The comparison between the man and his son brings back memories from the past. In this case, the memories appear to be positive.

Purpose
The purpose of this photograph is to show the similarities between generations. The boys, though separated by a generation, are almost identical in this picture. The difference in height between them shows the passage of time and wisdom. The ambiguity of the boys faces suggests that the image could be of anyone; it is not anyone specific. It is even possible that the child in the photograph is female. Another purpose is illustrate the bond between a father and his child. The father and son in the photograph are spending time fishing together. This memory will last the child a lifetime.

Comparison
The sunset in the picture can be tied to the theme of mortality in the essay. The sun is setting on the fathers time on Earth, but the sons time is just beginning. If the photograph was divided between the father and the son, both halves could be a picture of the same person at different stages of life. This relates to the section of the essay where the speaker pictures himself as his son and his father has himself. The grasses growing on the right corner of the image suggests a difference between the fathers side and the sons side. This represents the changes that have occurred to the lake since the speaker visited with his father; everything appears to be the same, but in reality, things have changed. The photograph has a more calm and less morbid view than the essay does, however. Both seem to have at least one of the same audiences: people with children and, more specifically, fathers.