Street Scenes by Ann Hood and Once More to the Lake by E.B. White

Hood vs. White
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Hood vs. White
Both essays, Street Scenes by Ann Hood and Once more to the lake by E.B. White are childhood memories. These memories bring forth the sense of family life and the past. Both essay talk of the similar aspects; but White talks of the lake he left back in Maine while Hood talks of the road that she has used more often. Both authors reflect on their childhood experiences, but they reflect them with different reasons. The descriptions of the past experiences are brought out in a sentimental manner with sensory details by both authors. This paper compares and contrasts the arguments of these authors and tries to identify whose argument is the best.
White has an idea that the flawless world has changed a lot. His essay reflects on how time has passed since his childhood times on the lake. His writing was triggered by his visitation with his son to the lake after so many years. He scrutinizes the lake and realized that the lake had stayed adamantly the same. He then realized that there must be something that had changed with him definitely. It dawns on him that some things were meant to remain the same and he is amazed by life’s ironic nature. He reconnects birth, childhood, maturity, death and comes to a conclusion that these phases are huge parts of human life.
White writes, " Summertime, oh, summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade-proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweet fern and the juniper forever and ever, summer without end, this was the background.” The idea strikes his mind after revisiting the lake with his son. It was amazing how responsibilities in the family changed. At times while walking with his son as they adventured the lake, he is not sure who he is; him as the father, or him as the son. "Everywhere we went I had trouble making out which was I, the one walking at my side, the one walking in my pants”(White). As time passes, things stay the same (the lake), but as people grow, their responsibilities change.
On the other hand, Hood talks of her childhood street that had always led her back home; back to her life. It was the street that she used for various occasions for thirty-eight years and it thus reminded her a lot of her childhood. She talks about the many changes that had happened on this street. She remembers when the previous spring when river Pawtuxet flooded extraordinarily leading to the street being closed indefinitely.
She remembers the bittersweet memories the street brings while she was growing up back, she can’t use it anymore. She says “For 38 years, River Street has taken me back home”. It was the same street that she used to go to college, meet friends, lovers, hospital where her dad passed on. When her brother passed on, she wanted to get home and it was the street that led her home. In this sense, white argues that things (lake) from the past do not change but things around them are the ones that change. Hood talks about things in the past changing (the river street) but memories of the past staying live in people.
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