The Lake

Today, I read one of Ray Bradbury's first short stories, The Lake. He refers to it as the first piece of work where his true literary voice emerged. I thought that the story was moving, but not as powerful or as well-written as his novels that I've read (Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles). There were some awkward sentences in there that I thought could use some revision. The first half of the story was a bit rough for me, but the second half was very well-written. I loved Bradbury's use of repetition. It's a very powerful literary tool. The story was quite depressing, telling the tale of a young boy whose adolescent love is drowned in a lake. He doesn't seem to understand at his young age exactly what it is that has happened to her, he just thinks that the river has taken her and will not let her come back. He builds half of a sand castle, and asks her to build the other half, a powerful image. As the story progresses, the boy grows into a young man, leaves his home, goes to college, and gets married. For their honeymoon, the "lovers" (he questions his love for her) return to his home town and to the very beach where his adolescent love was drowned. Coincidentally, or is it fatefully, a lifeguard is coming out of the water with a gray body bag. The boy asks him what is inside, and it's the girl. Then, he sees half of a sandcastle on the sand with little footprints leading from and back to the lake. His love for her is rekindled and he builds the other half of the castle before walking away. It's a tragic story. He will never be reunited with this girl that he loves, and it seems that he will not be able to move on and give his love to his wife. I love the ending because Bradbury puts in his usual twist of science fiction, the detail that goes against reality. I can really tell that this story is one of his earlier works, because his writing has improved drastically. I really enjoyed this story.