"Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it" (Baldwin). All experiences spring out of innocence. Sarah Orne Jewett expresses this through the story “The White Heron.” She uses the story to show how easily innocence can be influenced. "For Jewett, it seems to have been a personal 'myth' that expressed her own experience and the experience of other women in the nineteenth century who had similar gifts, aspirations, and choices" (Griffith). Her personal experiences include her living in Maine with her dad and two sisters. She had a medical degree but turned to writing because of poor health. She represented many women during the hard times of the 19th century.
The story is about a friendly hunter who comes to a budding girl named Sylvia for help to find a bird for his collection. He offers her ten dollars. At first, she agrees because of the impression the hunter makes on her. Later, she has a revelation through her love for the forest and neglects to tell him where the bird is. Sylvia represents the purity of innocence and has a bond with the natural world. Many of Sylvia’s thoughts are associated with the ability to be free. This exemplifies the women’s rights activism that was happening in the 19th century. Sarah Orne Jewett develops her theme of the change from innocence to experience in her short story “The White Heron” through the use of imagery, characterization, and symbolism.
The imagery used in “The White Heron” is shown through the relationship that is formed with Sylvia and the pine tree. She realizes that she needs to connect with nature and not let human greed take over. “The pine tree seemed to grow taller, the higher that Sylvie climbed. The sky began to brighten in the east. Sylvie’s face was lik...
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...travagance of Sarah Orne Jewett: Voices of Authority in ‘A White Heron.’” Studies in Short Fiction 19.1 (Winter 1982): 71-74. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Justin Karr. Vol. 44. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
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Encyclopedia for Short Stories. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Encyclopedia. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. .
Griffith, Kelley, Jr. “Sylvia as Hero in Sarah Orne Jewett’s ‘A White Heron.’” Colby Library Quarterly 21.1 (Mar. 1985): 22-27. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2014.Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
A White Heron and Other Stories. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Jewett Texts. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .
Wetherell, W.D. "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston: McGrawHill, 2003. 191-196.
Right from the first stanza, we can clearly see that the girl emphasizes her passionate feelings towards the boy by explaining how she desires to be close to her love. Moreover, she expresses the theme of love through using a narrative of how she is prepared to trap a bird. Apparently, this symbolizes how she is prepared to trap her lover’s feelings with the desire to live together all through her life. Additionally, the young lady emphasizes on her overall beauty, her beautiful hair, and clothing which is of the finest linen which she uses to attracts her lover’s attention (Hennessy & Patricia, p.
As Sylvia becomes acquainted with the hunter, she begins to learn about his pursuit of the white heron.
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
Jewett, Sarah Orne. "A White Heron." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. 131-139.
With all this, the author has achieved the vivid implication that aggressive masculine modernization is a danger to the gentle feminine nature. At 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. In conclusion, Sylvia and the hunter are two typical representatives of femininity and masculinity in the story?The white heron? by Sarah Orne Jewett, Ph.D.
Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake." Studies in the Novel 43.4 (2011): 470. Academic OneFile. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Margaret had huge dreams of one day becoming a writer, but those dreams were put on hold when her father suddenly passed away in 1835. At this time, her mother was also sick and it became her responsibility to take care of her family’s finances. There were not many job opportunities available to women during this time, she found a teaching job and accepted the position. She first began teaching at Bronson Alcott’s Temple School in Boston and taught there until she went on to teach at the well-kn...
“The Raven.” The American Tradition in Literature, 12th ed. New York: McGraw Hill 2009. Print
The entire poem is based on powerful metaphors used to discuss the emotions and feelings through each of the stages. For example, she states “The very bird/grown taller as he sings, steels/ his form straight up. Though he is captive (20-22).” These lines demonstrate the stage of adulthood and the daily challenges that a person is faced with. The allusions in the poem enrich the meaning of the poem and force the reader to become more familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. For example, she uses words such as innocence, imprisonment and captive to capture the feelings experienced in each of the stages.
Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol A. New York: W.
Evans, Robert C., Anne C. Little, and Barbara Wiedemann. Short Fiction: A Critical Companion. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill, 1997. 265-270.
The story mentions, "a great pine-tree stood, the last of its generation" (Jewett). Sylvia was well aware of this tree, and the challenge it presented to her. Sylvia begins to represent similar characteristics of the tree, standing up even though she and the tree have no choice but to stand strong. Sylvia has a choice to help the hunter and pick man over nature, but she feels one with nature and wants to stand up for nature. Sylvia "thought of the tree with a new excitement, for why, if one climbed it at bread of the day, could not one see all the world, and easily discover from whence the white heron flew" (Jewett). Sylvia believes that if someone climbed the great pine tree they could find the white heron, and she plans on trying to find the heron's nest for the hunter. While the hunter and her grandmother were asleep she sneaks out of the house to get a head start to find the heron. Sylvia starts climbing trees to scout for the white heron, and "She crept out along the swaying oak limb at last, and took the daring step across into the old pine-tree" (Jewett). Sylvia has determination while being courageous jumping from tree to tree to find the white heron, also feeling a refreshing spark of energy. This energy is described as a "determined spark of human spirit wending its way from higher branch to branch" (Jewett). Sylvia has this excitement expecting to see the world once she climbs to the top of the pine tree. Once she reaches the top, she sees birds flying and "Sylvia felt as if she too could go flying away among the clouds" (Jewett). While being up high as the clouds, Sylvia could see the world as beautiful unlike she has seen before. While being sky level, Sylvia finally spots the white herons
Then, “She remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together” (855), she cannot bring herself to “tell the heron’s secret and give its life away” (855). It is possible that Sylvia sees that she cannot become a part of his life, as once she left her previous home, she left without regrets. Although part of her wishes to make the young man happy, she chooses to protect the bird instead. She had two choices she could have made, she could have fallen in love, or, as she did, remains innocent, however she remained true to herself and made the right choice, the choice to conceal the heron’s secret instead of receiving the young man’s friendship and
Just like in the beginning exert of “A Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, the author introduces suspense and invites readers in by first setting the scene of an ideal and perfect world where,”…all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.” The scene the author is painting shows nature and humans coexisting together and this type of interaction brings an image of beauty and peace to mind. She also mentions that the country was especially famous for its abundant and various types of birds and makes several references to them throughout the story. Different types of birds carry a different symbolism each for example, the dove is a symbol for peace and friendship but a crow can signify that something terribly wrong is near.