A White Heron Analytical Essay

In Sarah Orne Jewett’s A White Heron, Jewett uses the main character Sylvia’s innocent, and considerably naive, point of view to defend the intangible power of beauty against the young bird hunter, who symbolizes the abuse of power through the destruction of the beauty in nature.
The first indication the reader receives that Sylvia is represented as a savior of the beauty in nature is through her connectedness with nature in the beginning of the story. There are several points in which Jewett is obviously pointing out the connection between Sylvia and nature but none are more obvious than when she states, “it seemed as if [Sylvia] had never been alive at all before she came to live at the farm” (414). Sylvia, from the beginning, is clearly

connected to nature as it gives her life in the same way that it gives animals and plants life. This theme is further broadened in the opening of the story.

The story opens with Sylvia in the woods, as sun is setting. Although Sylvia could not see where she was going the text state, “their feet were familiar with the path, and it was no matter whether their eyes could see it or not” (413). Therefore, Jewett indicates from the first moment in the text that Sylvia has a deep, profound connection with nature to the point where she can navigate through nature without even being able to see. As the reader is further introduced to this scene, Sylvia’s relationship with her cow, Mistress Moolly, becomes clear. Jewett writes that Mistress Moolly enjoyed hiding from Sylvia in the forest as part of a game they played. The fact that Sylvia plays games with her cows is further indication of her connection to nature. However, the purity of the woods is soon disturbed as Sylvia hears a whistle. It is instantly clear that this whistle is separate

from nature as Jewett writes that the whistle was “not a bird's whistle, which would have a sort of friendliness, but a boy’s whistle” (414). The language used by Jewett heavily indicates that this young sportsman is separate from nature by saying it is dissimilar to a bird’s whistle.
Next, as Sylvia and the young man go to Sylvia’s house, their intentions and character become even more clear as they begin to discuss the white heron.

When the young sportsman explains why he is there he states that he is hunting for the white heron, and he says, “I can’t think of anything I should like so much as to find that heron’s nest… I would give ten dollars to anybody who could show it to me” (416). Having now given an incentive for Sylvia to give up the location, she reacts negatively, with her heart giving a “wild beat.” Sylvia instinctively understands that the white heron is representative of the beauty of nature, as it is a rare and beautiful bird, and that giving the young sportsman the birds location is wrong. However, she is faced within an internal conflict as she knows the ten dollars would be helpful to her family. Therefore, she doesn’t dismiss the idea instantly, but instead goes hunting with the young sportsman to see what he is like. As they’re hunting, Sylvia displays distaste for the young sportsman’s gun, stating, “Sylvia would have liked him vastly better without his gun; she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much” (417). This highlights an important difference between the young sportsman and Sylvia. Since Sylvia loves nature, and birds, she assumes that the young sportsman is hunting because of a similar love for nature. However, the young sportsman represents an abuse of power, rather than a love for nature,

because of his destruction of nature, and particularly the destruction of the white heron. Dealing with this internal conflict, Sylvia decides to go find the white heron, which she does. When she returns, the young sportsman thinks that she has seen the white heron, but, after seeing the white heron, she refuses to reveal it’s location. Jewett states that “Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron’s secret and give it’s life away” (419). This final quote perfectly highlights the main difference between Sylvia and the young hunter, which is that Sylvia values life in all beings, while the young sportsman does not. Because of Sylvia’s connection to the white heron, and her connection to nature as a whole, a connection the young hunter lacks, she is unable to give away the secret and life of the white heron.