“The White Heron” is a classic short story written by Sarah Orne Jewett. In this short story, nature is an essential key element to theme. The reader can also relate in many ways to the main character, Sylvia. Sylvia and the reader have many similar thoughts. For instance, one way they can relate is how they both love nature and think of it as their companion. However, while they have a love for humans, it is to a lesser extent. The author, Sarah Orne Jewett, was born on September 3, 1849 and died June 24, 1909. She grew up around Berwick, Maine. This is the setting of many of her short stories along with the New England wilderness. In "The White Heron," the main character is a girl named Sylvia. She is also the protagonist of the story. There is also another character that is very important. He is the hunter, who is the antagonist of the story. Throughout the story, Sylvia is battling to keep the hunter from finding and killing the white heron for his bird collection. Throughout this short story, there is the very important theme of flesh versus spirit. In “The White Heron,” Sylvia’s previous experience with the white heron leads to her decision flesh versus spirit. Before the short story begins, the reader can imply that Sylvia created a connection with the white heron. Therefore, in the novel, Sylvia made the decision of stopping the hunter from finding and killing the white heron. Sarah Orne Jewett
Holt 2 develops her theme of flesh versus nature in her short story through the use of characterization imagery, and symbolism.
One of the ways Jewett exhibits the theme of flesh versus spirit is through the use characterization. In the story an example of characterization is “Sometimes in pleasant weather it was a consolation to ...
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... discussing the pine tree the white heron lives in. Jewett says “...at the farther edge of the woods, where the land was highest, a great pine-tree stood, the last of its generation” (Jewett). While this quote has symbolism of the pine tree, there are two different meanings of the tree. For one, it shows the goodness of nature and the clearness of thought. The pine tree can also represent the climax of the decision Sylvia has to make. “Sylvia can view everything from the top of the pine tree and it splits in two showing two paths Sylvia could go down in her life” (Norton). Since this is where the white heron lives, the pine tree is probably the most important part of the setting in the short story. Both of these meanings of the pine tree relate to Sylvia choosing nature over human. As a result, Sylvia decided not to tell the hunter where the white heron was settled.
In the narrative poem “Cautionary Tale of Girls and Birds of Prey” the author, Sandy Longhorn, tells the story of a young girl who is afraid of a hawk, and her inconsiderate father who doesn’t take her concerns seriously. The story shows how her father is determined to get rid of her fear of the hawk, because he thinks it is both foolish and childish. The daughter very well knows the capability of the hawk, however her father doesn’t acknowledge it until it is too late. In the poem, Longhorn uses alliteration and rhyme to help explore the theme of how being inconsiderate towards others can in the end hurt you as much as it hurts them. The poem takes place on a little farm where the girl and her father live with all of their livestock.
Furthermore, they all have an outside threat. The ornithologist might shoot the heron and make it a specimen while the man is suffered from the severe cold weather. In the stories both characters have to deal with the danger from outside world. Sylvia has to climb upon the tree to see where the heron is, the man has to avoid the snow falls from the tree.
In this short, but charming story, Amy Tan uses imagery to bring the story to life. With figurative language, the reader is immersed into the Chinese culture and can better relate to the characters. Tan main use of imagery is to better explain each character. Often instead of a simple explanation, Tan uses metaphors, similes, or hyperboles to describe the person, this way they are more relatable and their feelings better understood.
As Sylvia becomes acquainted with the hunter, she begins to learn about his pursuit of the white heron.
William Faulkner overwhelms his audience with the visual perceptions that the characters experience, making the reader feel utterly attached to nature and using imagery how a human out of despair can make accusations. "If I jump off the porch I will be where the fish was, and it all cut up into a not-fish now. I can hear the bed and her face and them and I can...
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.
Symbols provide more meaning and deeper representation of an object, or even a character. Through the usage of symbols, readers can connect and understand a character and their thoughts and actions. Janie Crawford connects with nature on a personal level, which provides readers insight. Nature, a predominant symbol in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, directly parallels Janie’s desires and her sense of identity.
In this poem called “Creatures” by the author Billy Collins there are three examples of figurative language helps convey the meaning that the author Billy Collins is conveying. The three examples of figurative language that the author Billy Collins uses are a metaphor, enjambment, and imagery. These three examples of figurative language help illustrate Billy Collins” theme in this poem called “Creatures” that he is writing because these three examples of figurative language help emphasize the theme of the poem. These three examples help emphasize this poem called “Creatures” meaning because it makes the theme of this poem have a deeper meaning. The theme of the author Billy Collins poem called “Creatures” is that the reader has to imagine
... is also clear that the white heron represents the true beauty of the region, while it is elusive and not able to be seen by even an experienced ornithologist, it is seen by Sylvia. The spotting of the white heron by Sylvia is Jewett’s way of expressing that true beauty of a region is only discoverable by those who are so familiar with the region that they can appreciate every aspect of nature’s beauty and once every foot of ground is known, only then can one appreciate the true beauty of the region and in this case that beauty is represented by the white heron. Jewett’s A White Heron is an excellent example of local color literature because it represents everything local color literature should. It contains characters and dialect specific to the region of Maine (Mrs. Tilley) as well as excellent descriptions of the topography of Maine and the beauty of the region.
• In the gym, the gym teacher announced that they were going to start a new unit. The new unit was volleyball.
One of the literary techniques most prominently featured throughout the passage would be that of imagery. The author takes great care to interweave sentences comparing the traits
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
Effectively using these elements in a piece of literature enhances the reader’s curiosity. One prime example of such usage of these elements is seen in Kate Chopin's writing. Her use of foreshadowing and use of emotional conflicts put into few words in the short piece "The Storm" adds an element that is alluring, holding the reader's interest. In this short piece of literature, a father and son, Bobinot and Bibi, are forced to remain in a store where they were shopping before the storm, waiting for the storm to pass over them. In the meantime, the wife and mother, Calixta, whom is still at home, receives an unexpected visit from a former lover named Alicee. The two have an affair and the story starts to come together. The story shows us how we tend to want what we beli...
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...
Many poets are inspired by the impressive persona that exists in nature to influence their style of poetry. The awesome power of nature can bring about thought and provoke certain feelings the poet has towards the natural surroundings.