Nature is all around the world, and is something in which some people are able to connect to on an intimate level. Humans have evolved from living in their natural surroundings to where they are now; however, few are able to form connections with it. During the late 1800’s urbanization and industrialization were a prominent feature in history. As a result, much of the environment was destroyed to make room for factories and the growth of population. Nature is an important part of human life; helping to make peace with yourself and define your morals. Sarah Orne Jewett, born in 1849, chose nature over man by deciding to not get married, and instead living with her friend and enjoying her surroundings. Growing up around people that worked in …show more content…
It is examined that civilization can hurt nature and distract one from their calling to nature. One instance of civilization in the short story is the hunter, who could be used to represent how civilization would have treated Sylvia had she retreated back to it. The hunter would hunt birds and stuff them, using them for trophies to show off and collect. These birds represent how had Sylvia given herself to the hunter, became friends with him, she could have been shown off as some sort of prize, “Caught, raped, killed, stuffed, and put on display in a man’s house” (Church 175). With humans living in large cities with many other influential people, they have adapted to the idea that they can be content in living in these conditions. Although all humans have the internal bond with nature, since they are not in contact with it often, the bond is often lost and must be found again. This idea was introduced to Sylvia when the hunter entered the story, and distracted her from her connection with the wilderness. When she climbed the tree and saw the heron, she reconnected with her bond with nature once more. Her bond had been lost in her eagerness to conform to civilization. Sylvia going back to nature after losing her way expresses greatly the fact that all humans have the instinct to bond with
Human beings have made much of purity and are repelled by blood, pollution, putrefaction (Snyder, 119). Nature is sacred. We are enjoying it and destroying it simultaneously. Sometimes it is easier to see charming things than the decomposition hidden in the “shade”.We only notice the beautiful side of nature, which are benefits that nature brings us: food, fresh air, water, landscapes. But we forget the other side, the rottenness of human destruction. That is how human beings create “the other side of the sacred”. We cut trees for papers, but we fail to recognize that the lack of trees is the lack of fresh air. Therefore, it is crucial to acknowledge “the other side of the
Our first introduction to these competing sets of values begins when we meet Sylvia. She is a young girl from a crowded manufacturing town who has recently come to stay with her grandmother on a farm. We see Sylvia's move from the industrial world to a rural one as a beneficial change for the girl, especially from the passage, "Everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at the all before she came to live at the farm"(133). The new values that are central to Sylvia's feelings of life are her opportunities to plays games with the cow. Most visibly, Sylvia becomes so alive in the rural world that she begins to think compassionately about her neighbor's geraniums (133). We begin to see that Sylvia values are strikingly different from the industrial and materialistic notions of controlling nature. Additionally, Sylvia is alive in nature because she learns to respect the natural forces of this l...
Originally named Kate Emily Anderson , she was born to parents Gabriel A. Anderson and Mary Partridge in Rockford, Illinois on the Sixteenth of October 1858 . Kate moved to Dickinson County, Iowa aged nine accompanied by her parents and her three siblings: Sid, Will and Mate , where she attended Spirit Lake Institution . In Dickinson County she met her first husband George E. Emerson . Married at nineteen years of age on the July 4th 1877 , Kate appears to have fulfilled the concept of true “womanhood”; however she appears within her diary dissatisfied with marriage and her husband. She produced three living children: Karl Emerson (born April 13th 1877) , Ethel Emerson (born in 1884) and Asa Emerson (born Januray 19th 1890) , and one unnamed baby born April 22nd 1883, who died May 2nd 1883 within her first marriage. Kate remained within Iowa with her three children, whilst her husband George travelled between Arkansas, California and Kansas City to find carpentry work...
In this excerpt from “A White Heron,” Sarah Orne Jewett tells of a young girl, Sylvia, climbing a tree as high as she can and staring out over the world from on top. Through her use of birdlike imagery, a varying narrative pace, and unique point of view, Jewett presents Sylvia as a young heroine conquering a small piece of the world.
Nature causes life, beautiful scenery, and a place for humans to live. Nature also causes death, sickness, and worldwide disasters. One can view nature with an optimistic or pessimistic outlook. Some people go through life by taking nature for granite and not realizing that they live at the mercy of nature. Comparatively, there are groups of people who view the nature with all the beauty it provides. The Native Americans’ treated nature with great respect; however, the Europeans did not hold nature in a high regard. The Native American cosmology allowed the land and other living creatures to be treated with great spiritual respect and with the notion that nature is more important than man. The first Europeans who came to the New World thought of land as a place to make profit and living
In this life, she is seen as one of the animals herself. “Alas, if the great wave of human interest which flooded for the first time this dull little life should sweep away the satisfactions of an existence heart to heart with nature and the dumb life of the forest!” (pg. 181). She climbs and soars up a pine tree and discovers the beautiful birds nest. She is stunned from the exquisiteness and gorgeousness of the nature that surrounds her. “Where was the white heron’s nest in the sea of green branches, and was this wonderful sight and pageant of the world the only reward for having climbed to such a giddy height? Now look down again, Sylvia, where the green marsh is set among the shining birches and dark hemlocks; there were you saw the white heron once you will see him again; look, look! A white spot of him like a single floating feather comes up from the dead hemlock and grows larger, and rises, and comes close at last, and goes by the landmark pine with steady sweep of wing and outstretched slender neck and crested head” (pg.
Her youth and innocence are emphasised by her relaxed nature- ‘Sylvia had all the time there was.’ ( ). However, when Sylvia sees a hunter walking in the woods, she is easily startled, but is also distracted by his handsome features as she takes him into her home. Sylvia is able to put aside her love for the natural world and is more focused on impressing the hunter. Even though Sylvia is too young for the hunter this is the first time that she's developed a crush. The passage states, “She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful; the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love.” (. ). Because this hunter loves the birds and can share interesting facts about how they live, Sylvia is able to enjoys being in his company and when he asks for Sylvia's help to find the white heron, She is more than eager to. For example the passage states, “What a spirit of adventure, what wild ambition! What fancied triumph and delight and glory for the later morning when she could make known the secret! It was almost too great for the childish heart to bear.” ( )
nature is not as in the plant and tree kind of nature, but on the nature of man at a
Throughout the late 19th century following the Industrial Revolution, society became focused on urban life and began to neglect the importance of rural society and nature. In “A White Heron” Sarah Orne Jewett, through Sylvia’s decision to protect the heron, contemplates the importance of nature and rural society. In particular, Jewett employs the cow grazing scene to show the importance of and solitude that Sylvia finds in rural life. When the hunter appears and Sylvia accompanies him on his journey to find the bird, his actions and speech reveal the destructiveness of urban society on nature. The scene when Sylvia climbs the tree to find the heron, initially in order to please the hunter and satisfy her new love for him, shows her realization
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
...usting civilization upon it? (P. Miller, p.207). With all this, the author has achieved the vividness implication that aggressive masculine modernization is a danger to the gentle feminine nature. In the end of the story, Sylvia decides to keep the secret of the heron and accepts to see her beloved hunter go away. This solution reflects Jewett?s hope that the innocent nature could stay unharmed from the urbanization.
On one side of the conflict, Americans have a passionate relationship with nature. Nature acts as a muse for artists of every medium. While studying nature, Jo...
After climbing the tall pine and viewing the beautiful world in which the heron lives, Sylvia sees the heron itself. Its beauty and grace speak to her soul. For a little while, she lives in the heron's world and is changed forever. Thus, the thought of exchange the white heron as a commodity for such amount of money conflict with the way Sylvia thinks about or understands the heron. This conflict splits Sylvia in two parts which were good subject and bad subject in Althusser’s terms.
To understand the nature-society relationship means that humans must also understand the benefits as well as problems that arise within the formation of this relationship. Nature as an essence and natural limits are just two of the ways in which this relationship can be broken down in order to further get an understanding of the ways nature and society both shape one another. These concepts provide useful approaches in defining what nature is and how individuals perceive and treat
No matter how much research is done, it is obviously known that humans will never be able to fully understand the phenomenon of the natural world, yet it is something that we still continue to explore and work with each and every day. As The Red Turtle simply explains to the viewer, nature is something that is full of chaos and unpredictability, yet it is beautiful in it’s own way and worth exploring. In today’s world of the twenty-first century, it is quite easy to see that humans are dominating the natural world. Mainly, I believe that nature is a big provider for our health and happiness, but in order to sustain this relationship, the human population must also provide for the natural world and keep the common peace.