Student Question
Which change at the lake disturbs E. B. White the most?
Quick answer:
E. B. White is most disturbed by the change in sound at the lake, particularly the pervasive noise of outboard motors. Previously, the lake was characterized by the gentle throb of inboard motors, which were soothing and familiar. The new outboard motors, however, produce a "petulant, irritable sound" that disrupts the tranquility of the setting, especially at night, resembling the whine of mosquitoes and causing a significant jarring effect on his experience.
When he takes his son to the lake in Maine, E. B. White notes that in many ways things seem just the same. Part of the road has been "tarred" but not to the very edge of the shore. Where there had been three ruts in the dirt road through the field, now only two remained. White frequently had the strange sensation that he was both his own father and his childhood self returned.
One sensation that had stayed with him was the quiet, and so a related change hit him especially hard. Outboard motors had become ubiquitous.
The only thing that was wrong now, really, was the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors. This was the note that jarred ...
Formerly, there had been a few one- or two-cylinder inboard motors that "throbbed and fluttered" or "purred and purred." In contrast, White feels that the outboards make "a petulant, irritable sound" which is especially jarring at night, when the evening should be still. To him, the motors "whined ... like mosquitoes."
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