Tripp Lake

in Tripp Lake Lauren Slater tells a story about her summer at a camp in Poland, Maine as a ten year old girl. However the story is about her feelings about her mother who she dislikes because of the guilt she feels for the way her mothers life turned out. Throughout the story Slater realizes that life is finite and things don't always turn out the way you want them to. When she begins riding horses she learns to face her fears and push forward.

In the passage "her face a mixture of terror and exhilaration, the balanced combination that means only one thing: mastery." Slater is saying that in life you often have conflicting feelings about things but in order to move forward in life you have to learn to focus those feelings. This is evident by Laurens feeling of guilt as she boards the bus because she feels her life is beginning while her mothers life is declining or already set.

For Slater the "way forward" is to face her fears head on and keep trying until she succeeds. I think in this story Lauren realizes life is hard and can beat you down as it has done to her mother. However by riding Rain and facing her fear of jumping she realizes she can't just sit on her bed and cry about it she has to face it and move forward.