The father looks back at those years and tries to relive the moments through his son's eyes. He knows he can't, and has difficulty dealing with the fact that he can't go back in time. E.B. White's way of letting the reader know that the father is in a way depressed, is through great detail and description. The story mentions how the lake has changes since the father had seen it last. How the once gravel roads have been paved over, and the sail boats are now replace with boats with outboard motors. As the reader, one can sense a feeling of how the father isn't able to adapt to these changes. The little boy in the story, the son, also doesn't seem to appreciate the lake as much as the father did when he was growing up. Like how when he was a boy, he would wake up early to fish. Now the father wishes his son would do the same. It seemed the little boy just too the trip for granted. He didn't appear to be as appreciative as the father once was. The father describes the view as pretty much being the same. How things felt the same, like the moss on his feet and such. He didn't feel that the lake had changed any, but everything around it did. This is when the idea of a duel personality comes into picture. The father can almost see himself as a child, doing the things he wished his son would do. When he was young he would get up especially early to fix his fishing pole and even help set the dinner table. Then he realizes that his son doesn't do any of these things, making the father feel as if the trip just isn't the same. As the story progresses, the father begins to point out the differences of his once peaceful get-a way. How when arriving was something to look forward to, seeing all of the other family's greet you, the madness of the train station, and the smells of the wilderness. All of those things were gone, replace by motor boats that would wake you up in the middle of a summer slumber. Lastly the father brings up the thunderstorm.
